The Houston Intellectual Property Law Association recently awarded researchers from the UH College Of Pharmacy and the University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center the Inventor of the Year Award for their work on enhancing the safety of stem cell transplantation for leukemia patients.
‘These people had the most interesting submission and were definitely the most deserving of the award,’ HIPLA Award Committee Chairwoman Keana Taylor said.
The team of researchers included MDACC professor and UHCOP adjunct professor Borje S. Andersson, UHCOP professor Diana Chow and UHCOP alumnus Harshal P. Bhagwatwar.
They have been working since the early 1990s to create intravenous formulations of a pre-transplant drug called Busulfan (IV Busulfex’reg;). The team also succeeded in making stable parenteral formulations of Busulfan safe for intravenous administration that also resulted in an increase to the extent to which a body can absorb the medication.
‘This award is a great honor and accomplishment not only for us and our many colleagues, but for the patients and their families who encouraged our work,’ Andersson said in a press release.
Busulfan is an antineoplastic chemotherapy drug that inhibits the spread of cancer cells. Used as a conditioning agent before stem cell transplants, the intravenous version of the drug has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the three-month, post-transplantation mortality rate of leukemia patients.
‘By being able to control the circulation of the drug, the mortality rate has dropped to only 6 percent of patients after three years of transplant,’ Chow said.
This treatment has become a standard part of the pre-transplant regimen for more than 65 percent of chronic myeloid leukemia patients across North America.’
‘We were looking for something that would directly impact the Houston community,’ Taylor said. ‘(HIPLA was) extremely pleased and excited to be able to grant the award to Dr. Chow and her colleagues.’
Although Busulfan has been on the market since 1959, doctors and patients have been looking for improvement in the drug due to the seriousness of its side effects.
‘ Previously, Busulfan was administered orally and almost always caused severe side effects, including liver failure. In order to avoid some of the more serious side effects, this team of researchers invented a way to evade the liver through an intravenous administration.
‘This invention has changed the standard of care in stem cell transplantation and greatly improved patients’ quality of life in the U.S. and throughout the world,’ Chow said. ‘It is now safe to treat even pediatric patients, including newborns.’
With the reduction of side effects by using a parenteral method of administration, chronic myeloid leukemia patients are relieved from the cumbersome treatment and can focus solely on treating their primary illness.
According to a press release, the researchers have been awarded with two U.S. patents and one international patent for intravenous Busulfan (IV Busulfex’reg;), which made them eligible candidates for the award. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 1999.
