In the late 1990s, STI - 571 (imatinib, Gleevec / Glivec) was identified by the pharmaceutical company Novartis (then known as Ciba Geigy) in high - throughput screens for tyrosinekinaseinhibitors.
The researchers also screened more than 100 anticancer compounds to see whether they killed lab - grown cancer cells from the devils and found that both strains responded to inhibitors of proteins known as receptor tyrosinekinases.