Friday, February 09, 2007
Treatment Update
I had an unexpected turn of events the last 2 days. I had been having trouble earlier in the week getting an appointment scheduled at Fox Chase that wasn’t 3 or 4 weeks away. I got a call Wednesday afternoon asking if I could make an appointment Thursday morning at Fox Chase. I was able to get a friend from work drive me down to Philly early Thursday morning and make the appointment. I was very happy to be able to get to see the doctor this week and get things rolling.
To my surprise, Dr Von Mehren told me about 2 clinical trials that Fox Chase was running for which I would qualify. Both are Phase I trials and neither one is specifically designed for sarcoma patients but for advanced cancer patients in general. The first trial involves a drug called patupilone, which is a drug being developed to treat advanced solid tumors developed by Novartis. The second trial involves a drug called SN2310, which belongs in class of cancer drugs called camptothecins and has been developed by Sonus Pharmaceuticals. Both drugs are very new and, as a result, there is little data about how effective either one would be with nerve sheath tumors (or sarcoma in general for that matter). Phase 1 trials are essentially safety trials developed to determine tolerable dosages of a new drug, and do not focus on the efficacy of the drug. This is the downside, really, but I am a good candidate for trials like these because I don’t really have any “proven” treatments to fall back on at this point.
I have decided to enroll in the SN2310 trial, mainly because there is a lot of promise in the camptothecin class of drugs. Camptothecin is a compound that comes from the bark of a tree native to China and has shown tremendous anti-cancer properties by disrupting DNA replication in cancer cells. So there are absolutely no guarantees that this drug will have any positive effect on my sarcoma, but I am happy to be involved with a new and promising drug. There are some typical side effects with the drug (immunosupression etc) but certainly no worse than the traditional drugs I have been involved with.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll need to have some pre-trial tests conducted and then I should be able to get started. The drugs are administered every 3 weeks, but there are additional blood draw requirements (particularly in the first round) that will keep me busy.
That’s all for now -- thanks for your continued comments, emails, phone calls and prayers.
Seth
To my surprise, Dr Von Mehren told me about 2 clinical trials that Fox Chase was running for which I would qualify. Both are Phase I trials and neither one is specifically designed for sarcoma patients but for advanced cancer patients in general. The first trial involves a drug called patupilone, which is a drug being developed to treat advanced solid tumors developed by Novartis. The second trial involves a drug called SN2310, which belongs in class of cancer drugs called camptothecins and has been developed by Sonus Pharmaceuticals. Both drugs are very new and, as a result, there is little data about how effective either one would be with nerve sheath tumors (or sarcoma in general for that matter). Phase 1 trials are essentially safety trials developed to determine tolerable dosages of a new drug, and do not focus on the efficacy of the drug. This is the downside, really, but I am a good candidate for trials like these because I don’t really have any “proven” treatments to fall back on at this point.
I have decided to enroll in the SN2310 trial, mainly because there is a lot of promise in the camptothecin class of drugs. Camptothecin is a compound that comes from the bark of a tree native to China and has shown tremendous anti-cancer properties by disrupting DNA replication in cancer cells. So there are absolutely no guarantees that this drug will have any positive effect on my sarcoma, but I am happy to be involved with a new and promising drug. There are some typical side effects with the drug (immunosupression etc) but certainly no worse than the traditional drugs I have been involved with.
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll need to have some pre-trial tests conducted and then I should be able to get started. The drugs are administered every 3 weeks, but there are additional blood draw requirements (particularly in the first round) that will keep me busy.
That’s all for now -- thanks for your continued comments, emails, phone calls and prayers.
Seth
# posted by Seth Edmondson @ 12:43 PM 
Comments:
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Seth,
It is good to see updates on your blog and that there is a trial that you can participate in. I'm always impressed by the details of the drugs and how well you understand all of
it and relay it to us. I think you should aim for a second career in writing for the layperson!
Be well. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.
Natalie
It is good to see updates on your blog and that there is a trial that you can participate in. I'm always impressed by the details of the drugs and how well you understand all of
it and relay it to us. I think you should aim for a second career in writing for the layperson!
Be well. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.
Natalie
# posted by 
: 2:13 PM
: 2:13 PM
May the love, peace and compassion of our risen Lord and Savoir be with you Seth and all the Edmondson family.
Ellis and Stephanie Grossnickle
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Ellis and Stephanie Grossnickle
# posted by : 8:11 AM
: 8:11 AM << Home
