At AACR 2013 ARIAD Reports that Ponatinib Overcomes Resistant KIT Mutations in GIST

The pharmaceutical company, Ariad, issued a press release today (April 9, 2013)  in conjunction with a report delivered at the AACR annual meeting in Washington, DC. Ariad presented pre-clinical data showing that it's drug Iclusig (ponatinib) is active against resistant mutations in GIST.

You can read the full press release here.

Quotes from the press release include:

“These data provide important support for the use of Iclusig in patients with GIST who have become resistant to prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.”

"ARIAD plans to begin a Phase 2 trial of Iclusig in patients with GIST in the second quarter of 2013."


The title of the report is: "“Ponatinib, a pan-BCR-ABL inhibitor, potently inhibits key activating and drug-resistant KIT mutants found in GIST"

AACR stands for "American Association for Cancer Research" 

The AACR annual meeting is described on their website:

"The AACR Annual Meeting is the Year’s Essential Event for Cancer Researchers
Each year there is one indispensable conference for cancer researchers working in all subdisciplines of the cancer field: the AACR Annual Meeting. More than 17,000 participants from 60 countries gather to discuss over 6,000 abstracts and to hear more than 250 invited presentations on new and significant discoveries in basic, clinical, and translational cancer research. Scientific award lectures, grant writing workshops, networking events, and educational sessions round out this comprehensive program."