Arsenic trioxide sold under the brand name Trisenox, is approved for patients with a rare leukemia named acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).
APL is a form of acute myeloid leukemia, about 1,500 people are diagnosed every year with this rare disease. Standard treatment involves chemotherapy and a form of vitamin A -- alltrans retinoic acid. This therapy helps about 70-80 percent of patient gain long term-remissions. About 25 percent of patients do relapse and are no longer responsive to treatment.These patients often are treated with arsenic trioxide.
A study was sponsored by The National Cancer Institute to see if the addition of arsenic trioxide along with the standard therapy for first line treatment would prove better survival rates.
Results of a large three year study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that 31 percent of patients in the arsenic group were free of disease after three years compared to 26 percent who received the standard treatment.
The arsenic trioxide treatment zeros in on disease - causing cells which makes it effective and much less toxic than chemotherapy.
