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Our copay assist program needs donations. I know most people like to donate to research only, and that is also badly needed. When you donate to the Musella Foundation (a https://virtualtrials.com/donate8.cfm ), we let you specify WHERE your donation will go, with 3 choices:
1. Brain tumor research only - 100% of your donation will go to research. (we also have some specific funds you can donate to such as DIPG or Oligodendroglioma - on our website, click on donations, the Special Funds)
2. Copay assist program - 91% of your donation with go to a needy patient. 9% has to be used to cover the expense of running the program.
3. Anywhere it is needed. This covers the foundations' expenses which allows us to provide our services, as well as educational resources. Anything left over is used for research. Never for copay.
This is a new approach . They are running trials in China for newly diagnosed and recurrent GBM patients.
This is a very important article. Although a small sample, it opens the door to using a BRAF inhibitor for brain tumors that have the BRAF V-600 mutation. Note that this shouldn't be used in other mutations of BRAF, only the V-600 mutation. They found that using these drugs may actually speed up the tumor if they do not have the V-600 mutation.
This is an interesting project. This is a preclinical experiment that may quickly lead to a human trial!
GDC-0084 (RG7666) which is a novel BBB-penetrating PI3K/mTOR inhibitor displaying a high brain-to-plasma ratio (1.9–3.3). It remarkably impedes the proliferation of five GBM cell lines and suppresses the growth of U-87 MG GBM xenografts through decreasing Akt phosphorylation
This sounds pretty good. It also worked in a mouse model of glioblastoma, so they are going to start a trial of this combination for Glioblastoma patients. Both parts of the combo are approved so they can be used off label now.
This is a phase 1 trial, which means we do not yet have results but may sounds logical.
This is an important project because the drug being studied is approved for Lung Cancer. so if they find it useful for glioblastomas, it can immediately be used off label!
This is a nice series of meetings for patients and caregivers who use (or are thinking of using) Optune.
ONC-201 is a new class of treatment for brain tumors - it is in clinical trials now for recurrent GBMs and any type of glioma that has the H3 K27M mutation!
Always a worthwhile experience from our good friends at UCLA!
This is a rare occurence - happening about 12 times out of 1,800. The cause was identified and they are fixing the problem, and letting the doctors know about it so they can watch for it and prevent problems. I feel it is still a good treatment as this device is used for "inoperable" tumors that will most likely kill the patient without the treatment, so it is still worth the small risk.
This is great news. The NCCN basically sets the standard of care for cancer treatments. The NCCN treatments classification is:
Not only does this set the standard of care as including Optune, but it should make it impossible for insurance companies to deny it.
It will only be open for a few weeks. If you are thinking of applying, do it now and send it by fax. Do not mail it as you may miss out on it.
That is an impressive number of presentations, and means that Optune has finally been accepted by the research community.
Very interesting combination and cheap. I am looking foward to the result.
This is from our friends at "OurB Brain Bank". It is an app that records your information to be used in research and helps match you with clinical trials. We have similar projects going - the brain tumor virtual trial, and our clinical trials matcher, but it is good to get other points of view
This is a tv news segment about an exciting new clinical trial for recurrent glioblastoma of: EGFR(V)-EDV-Dox. See https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02766699 for details on the trial. and click HERE for details on this new treatment.
Disclaimer: Dr. Boockvar is a member of our medical advisory board.
This is from the people at Novocure. It is a facebook event where you can learn about and ask questions about Optune!
This is so sad. I had high hopes for this trial. The earlier phase 2 trial reported very good results. The details have not been released yet - would love to see how the 2 trials differed and why the phase 3 trial did not show a benefit when the phase 2 showed such a large benefit.
