NEIL SHAH, MD, PhD: So she had an immediate, complete hematologic response, and we were able to remove her hydroxyurea, and that was the first sign that we were actually controlling her disease. And she subsequently has had bone marrow biopsies which have shown a complete cytogenetic remission, which is really very exciting, that we can take patients who otherwise have very few options to control their disease and get it back into a remission state that's pretty much as good as anything Gleevec could accomplish. So she's now in what we would call a complete cytogenetic remission.
BETTY: I called everybody and told them and called my husband, and I was crying. I said, you know, "Guess what?" So I was really, and still am surprised to this day that it's doing so good.
ANNOUNCER: The drug was not without complications. Betty has experienced shortness or breath and weakness. About 10 percent of patients develop some buildup of fluid around the lung.
NEIL SHAH, MD, PhD: Recently she has developed a little bit of fatigue, which we're in the process of trying to figure out. But my suspicion is it may be related to some of this fluid collection around the lung, and we're going to be investigating that a little bit further and doing any necessary procedures to hopefully not only treat that but prevent it from recurring.
ANNOUNCER: Betty's story illustrates how patients may sometimes do best when they take the initiative when it comes to clinical trials.
