GREAT NEWS! Merck’s Keytruda Immunotherapy Drug SHRINKING CC TUMORS!
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AnnS,
Thank you so much for posting this wonderful news about your husband’s participation in the trial and his apparent miraculous results. I’m so thrilled to hear that you didn’t take “no” for an answer and chose to fight this beast together and you did an excellent job of choosing that one doctor who went with what you wanted and you were able to get into the trial. It sounds soooo good to hear that he is eating again and even better that he is able to stop pain meds in the last 24 hours. I will say a prayer for continued good results and hope to see another post that he has a great scan that blows them out of the water at the end of the 12 weeks. Let us know how it’s going and please come back here just to be a part of this group.
Julie T.
Hello, I saw your post asking for other responses to the clinical trials for Keytruda. My husband is in a Level 2 trial for Keytruda at the University of Pittsburgh. He has cholangiocarcinoma,but what makes him eligible for this trial is that he has Lynch Syndrome,specifically a genetic mismatch in his DNA code.
His results in only 6 weeks are unbelievable! My husband is only 46,and survived pancreatic cancer in 1999, he had a full whipple procedure then. He had been told that his care for Bile Duct cancer would only be palliative.We found this trial,and we believe the drug is working. On February 20th he was hospitalized with a fully obstructed stomach from the tumor. We knew we were starting this trial,so the dr put him on a fully liquid diet and he got out of the hospital without the surgery that all drs were pushing for to divert his stomach.
He started the trial, and has had 3 treatments timed 2 weeks apart. He cannot get a CAT scan until he has been on the trial for 12 weeks. We are fully convinced the trial is working. In the last week he has started eating food again.Real food. If the tumor (the size of a grapefruit) hadn’t shrunk, he would be in the hospital again unable to digest the food. Also, for the first time in literally months, he took off the pain patch he was wearing and has had no pain medication for over 24 hours!
He has periods of intense fatigue,and welts all over his arms and trunks.These welts itch him intensely, and he gets up at night to put non steroid lotion on them every 4 hours. He has had some joint pain, but the itching and fatigue are the worst so far.
We believe that this drug which stimulates your own bodies immune system to fight cancer is a miracle drug. My husband has had no chemo since Feb 4th, no drug treatment other than these 3 infusions! This tumor was aggressively growing,and as I said blocking his stomach.
I am blogging about my husbands trial at http://www.Mooreaboutthis.com if you want to know in more detail about this drug.Me, too, Duke!! I was devastated when my surgery was cancelled. But have learned I CAN and WILL live with this bast#rd!
Surgery is the only option for a cure, so it should be pursued if at all possible (my opinion). If I had the chance for surgery, I’d be in the OR prep room in a heartbeat asking for a surgical gown.
Duke
Catherine, thank you for your sharing and suggestions. I posted my Dad’s case under Introductions and General Information.
Dear Dai,
Welcome to our group. Please don’t second guess yourself on trying the surgery. My mother also had an unsuccessful surgery, but with CC it does give a chance for a cure, so most think it’s worth trying. I think the trial mentioned here may not be accepting more CC patients, but there are other clinical trials and treatment options.
We were devastated when Mom’s surgery didn’t work (Nov 2103), but she is still feeling great today. You will see other good news stories here.
If you get an opportunity, you might want to copy your post under introductions. Hopefully there will be others who can chime in and may have further suggestions.
Also, on the homepage is a link with suggestions on how to proceed after diagnosis.
http://cholangiocarcinoma.org/newly-dx/
I hope your Dad has a quick recovery from the surgery; you’re right that that is the first priority.
Take care,
Catherinectwong81, thank you so much for sharing such a good news. My father is 79 years old. He was diagnosed CC 5 weeks ago. The doctor suggested surgery. So 10 days ago, he had surgery. But the tumor was not able to removed. Only the gallbladder was removed. He was very weak and got infaction after the surgery. No treatment is able to be applied on him now. I am really regret for choosing the surgery. Since we live just 1.5 hours driving to the UCSF, I wonder whether my father can join the clinical trial or not.
Thanks so much Marion. I was hoping we might hear something from another “early bird” at another trial site.
Judy….unless the drug response is overwhelmingly positive for all study participants, the FDA will not allow it to be released to the general patient population. And, that happens rarely. In general though the study has to complete (in this case October 2016) for all data to be evaluated and compiled. Based on the outcome of this Phase IB study the next step is a Phase II (larger patient population.) It then moves on to Phase III wherein the drug is tested against the standard of care (Gem/Cis)
Hugs,
MarionDo we have any information about experiences to date of this NCT02054806 Study of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) that is working so well at the UCSF.? The clinical trial lists 20 investigative sites, Including UCSF and MD Anderson. It would be very helpful to know more..JudyM
Double and triple checked – clinical trial Keytruda is closed to biliary cancer patients. We now have to await the data report. Hoping and wishing that the patient response was overwhelmingly positive and that a phase II/III can begin as well.
Hugs,
Marionjtaylor….I assume that within a short period of time other companies will begin similar trials.
Marion
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