In 1998, Mel Mann was told he had chronic myeloid leukemia and just three years to live. More than a quarter century later, he is not only alive but training for his next marathon. His story is a testament to a medical breakthrough that changed the course of cancer treatment.
That breakthrough was Gleevec, a pill approved by the FDA 25 years ago that became one of the first targeted cancer therapies. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, which attacks all rapidly dividing cells, Gleevec was designed to specifically block the abnormal protein that drives chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML. Before its arrival, a CML diagnosis was often a death sentence. Today, the five-year survival rate for patients diagnosed in the chronic phase exceeds 90 percent.
The drug’s success did not stop with its initial approval. Researchers continued to refine the approach, developing second, third and fourth-generation drugs that followed in Gleevec’s footsteps. These newer therapies help patients who develop resistance to earlier treatments, ensuring that most people with CML can manage their disease as a chronic condition rather than a terminal one. The pill is taken daily at home, allowing patients to maintain a normal quality of life.
What made Gleevec so special was its precision. By targeting only the cancerous cells, it spared healthy tissue and caused far fewer severe side effects than older treatments. This principle of targeted therapy has since been applied to many other cancers, including lung, breast and skin cancers. The drug’s approval marked a turning point in oncology, shifting the field from a one-size-fits-all approach to treatments tailored to the genetic makeup of each tumor.
Today, Gleevec and its successors remain standard of care for CML worldwide. For patients like Mel Mann, the pill has turned a three-year prognosis into decades of life, marathons and hope. Researchers continue to explore even more effective versions, aiming to one day make CML a curable disease.