Evil big pharma....wants to keep those sick old people alive even longer.

An experimental AbbVie Inc drug for leukemia controlled or eliminated signs of the disease in more than 80 percent of patients who had failed to benefit from previous treatments, an unprecedented finding that could spur use of the medicine for other cancers, researchers said.

The AbbVie drug, ABT-199, works by blocking a protein called BCL-2 that allows cancer cells to overcome a natural mechanism called programmed cell death, in which the body kills off defective or cancerous cells.

AbbVie is developing the once-daily pill in partnership with Roche Holding AG.

The favorable data was seen in a phase I, or early-stage, trial involving 67 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who had not been helped by chemotherapy or relapsed from such treatment.

The slowly progressing blood cancer, which mainly affects people age 65 and older, occurs when white blood cells build up in the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes, causing them to enlarge. About 15,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year.
More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9B706M20131208