Re: New leukemia drugs show early promise

[Guest guest]

Hi, I came across this post and it had sparked an interest to my mom

and I for the reason that my grandmother is suffering with leukemia.

She first had leukemia in May of 2005. She was then taked to Ceder

Sianide in L.A., there she was treated and was cured. Then in March

of 2006 she had a relapse. She was hospitalize for over a week and at

this time they had told her she was going to die. She had caught

phemonia and the doctor's thought she may have had T.B. Since the end

of March my grandmother has been on many pills, up to 11 a day, and

the doctors keep telling her she is a no hope patient in a way. She

needs platelets and blood transfusion frequently and is always

hospitalize. My grandmother does not want to die. She wants to be

around her family and she is fighting hard. We need to try something

new, her doctors keep telling her that there is nothing for her and

they keep giving her pills that are obviously not helping her but

making her worse. My family and I do believe that there is something

that can help her, I mean she beat leukemia once, she can do it

again. In march she was left by her doctors to die, they gave up on

her and still in june she is here. Maybe your product can help her or

maybe not. I know my grandma has tried to look for alternatives but

her doctors will not help her. She wants to live and she would do or

try anything new to seek help and recovery. So please if there is

anything you can do to help us please let us know. We just want her

back to her old spunky self with much liveliness and happiness she

brought us.

Thank you,

L.

>

> New leukemia drugs show early promise

>

> By Gene Emery

>

> BOSTON (Reuters) - Two new drugs may help treat some adult cases of

> leukemia that fail to respond to Novartis AG's Gleevec, two studies

> showed on Wednesday.

>

> One drug, dasatinib, an experimental Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. drug

> recently endorsed by a Food & Drug Administration advisory panel,

> could receive full approval by the end of June.

>

> Dasatinib helped 68 out of 84 volunteers suffering from a form of

> chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, that was resistant to Novartis's

> Gleevec, according one study led by Sawyers of the

University

> of California in Los Angeles.

>

> Using genetic testing, the Sawyers team also predicted which

patients

> would respond to the drug, also known as Sprycel, said the study

> published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

>

> The second study, also published in the Journal, evaluated

nilotinib,

> which Novartis is trying to put on a fast track for approval in the

> United States.

>

> Europe has already given nilotinib orphan drug status -- a

designation

> for drugs developed for rare illnesses where there is no strong

profit

> motive to make the drugs. CML is relatively rare, striking about

4,600

> people a year in the United States.

>

> The study found that 11 of 12 volunteers who received the drug in

the

> long-term chronic stage of the disease had cancer cells disappear

from

> the blood. This is positive but does not necessarily mean they were

> cured since cancer cells can lurk elsewhere in the body.

>

> In the " blast " stage, which is the most aggressive phase of CML,

> cancer cells also disappeared from the blood of 13 out of 33

patients.

> For the less-aggressive " accelerated " phase, 33 of 46 responded.

>

> " With it, I believe we are going to make another quantum leap in the

> treatment of CML, " said author Hagop Kantarjian of the University of

> Texas M.D. Cancer Center, referring to nilotinib.

>

> Nilotinib is designed to be 50 times more potent than Gleevec but it

> seems to spark some worrisome abnormal electrical activity in the

> heart, the study said.

>

> Further tests are also needed because neither drug was given a

> head-to-head comparison with other treatment.

>

> The studies " provide immediate hope for patients in whom CML cells

> have developed resistance, " said Druker of the Oregon Health

and

> Science University Cancer Institute in Portland, in a Journal

editorial.

>

> The Sawyers team said successful long-term treatment of CML might

> require a combination of such drugs, just as the

> AIDS virus is best battled with several medicines given

concurrently.

>

[Guest guest]

> >Hi, I came across this post and it had sparked an interest to my

mom

> >and I for the reason that my grandmother is suffering with

leukemia.

> >She first had leukemia in May of 2005. She was then taked to Ceder

> >Sianide in L.A., there she was treated and was cured. Then in March

> >of 2006 she had a relapse.

>

>

> Hi ,

> It does not sound like your grandmother has CML (one type of

> leukemia)...because this leukemia is not cured and we stay on pills

(our

> treatment). It sound like your grandmother had a type of leukemia

that is

> treated with chemotherapy.

>

> I would see where she can go for a second consult.....her present

doctors

> don't seem to have a plan for her. In the LA are there is City of

Hope,

> they specialize in leukemia treatment and also UCLA. Find out from

her

> insurance where she can go for a 2nd consult and do it soon.

>

> C.

>

hi well my mom tried to have a 2nd contsutain with ucla but her

insurance denied it last week that the doctors told them there is

nothing that can be done go home and die they pretty much told here

she is 74ys old she wants to fight but she is so weak now there seems

like ther is no hope for her her blood,and platelets, are not working

no more she gets them and she needs them again the next day i feel so

hope less thank you for writing me

[Guest guest]

At 02:39 AM 6/28/06 +0000, you wrote:

>hi well my mom tried to have a 2nd contsutain with ucla but her

>insurance denied it last week that the doctors told them there is

>nothing that can be done go home and die they pretty much told here

>she is 74ys old she wants to fight but she is so weak now there seems

>like ther is no hope for her her blood,and platelets, are not working

>no more she gets them and she needs them again the next day i feel so

>hope less thank you for writing me

,

I am very sorry that your grandmother's condition has deteriorated. I would

ask her doctor to explain things more clearly to you and your family....to

have a family conference. If there is not another treatment that would be

helpful, then the doctors should help you get hospice care for her at

home.

To answer your original question, these new leukemia drugs are mostly for

one type of leukemia (CML) and probably would not help your grandmother.

My best to you and your family,

C.