The first clinical trial of Gleevec took place in 1998 and the drug received FDA approval in May 2001, only two and a half years after the new drug application was submitted [REF].
During the FDA review, the tradename of the drug for the US market was changed from "Glivec" to "Gleevec" at the request of the FDA, to avoid confusion with Glyset, a diabetes drug [REF].