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Of course the report of a single patient doing well is nice, but doesn't prove anything. The interesting part of this paper is the discussion of the approach. I think this is the path to the cure. Not the individual drugs that this patient took, but the approach. We will be trying it out in our patient navigation program!
We're interested in your opinions on the use of placebos in control groups during clinical trials, as well as the possibility of participants using additional treatments while involved in a trial. To avoid influencing your response, I'll keep this brief. Please spare 3 minutes to complete our survey. Your input is valuable! This is completely confidential!
This drug is already approved for a different indication, so if this trial shows that it is useful for this patient population, we have easy access to it! Note that there are two "Connect" Consortiums. This one was the first to use that name, and is for pediatric brain tumors. The NCI Connect program handles 12 rare diseases in adults including brain tumors.
I am excited over the progress made in 2023 and I think 2024 is going to be even better! Everything is coming together and we are on the verge of a breakthrough - which I believe is going to be a combination of the treatments I mention in the blog post!
Happy New Year!
These brain tumor research grants bring our 2023 total to fourteen projects funded for a total of $298,035! Our copayment assistance program was a huge success also - so far this year we awarded grants of up to $5,000 each to 267 patients for a total of $1,330,000! Patients are allocated $5,000 each and can use up to that $5,000 in assistance in a 1 year period. if they do not use it all up at the end of the 12 month period, we recycle the unused funds to help other patients. For most of these patients, they would not be able to get their treatments without our help. This is truly a life saving program!
Interesting approach and early results look very good. Will be keeping an eye on this!
This new law goes into effect on Jan 1, 2025. All insurance companies will have to cover biomarker testing for cancer. This should be standard of care for brain tumor patients (as well as all other types of cancers). The following states already have this in effect: AZ, CA, IL, LA, RI, KY, NM, MD,MN, TX, GA, AR(commercial insurance only), OK. The bill was introduced into these states: CT, CO, FL, MA, ME, NV, OH, PA
After two decades of development, a milestone has been achieved with the submission of the first brain tumor vaccine, DCVax, for approval by the UK's regulatory body. The large Phase 3 trial's results are promising, showing notable efficacy as well as safety. The early data from combinations with immune enhancers is particularly encouraging. Upon its potential approval in the UK, we will explore the feasibility of utilizing the FDA's personal importation guidelines to access DCVax in the USA, pending its FDA approval.
This development represents a significant advancement in brain tumor treatment and offers hope for patients seeking new therapies.
My local newspaper interviewed me. :)
Interesting commentary. I agree with it. My thoughts are that everyone should at least get an opinion from an academic cancer center, and if having surgery - needs to be done by a center that has high volume of that type of surgery. But for ongoing care such as radiation and chemotherapy and Optune, getting treated at a local community center is a lot easier and cheaper.
Mark Cuban's new Cost Plus Drug Company sells many generic drugs at dirt cheap prices. They do not accept insurance but it is usually cheaper than your copay. Compare the price to your copayment, not just for Temodar but all of your chronic medications. They do not have everything yet but add drugs quickly. I request that they add Gleostine
Sonodynamic therapy is using noninvasive focused ultrasound to kill tumor cells that take up a special dye, In theory - this can kill the tumor cells without hurting the normal cells. It is still experimental and early, but it is one of the most promising new approaches. There are three different forms of it being tested now - hopefully all of them will work and we do not know which is best right now. Focused ultrasound is also being used to treat brain tumors in other ways such as by opening the blood brain barrier allowing other treatment in, and by physically heating the tumor to ablate it.
SonALAsense reported on the first group of pediatric DIPG cases treated. This was dose escalation, so most did not get the full therapeutic dose. They had impressive results. The best part is that there is no incision, no pain, no systemic side effects and relatively easy to undergo. It can be repeated as needed. If it works like I think it will,
The Musella Foundation is one of the sponsors of this research!
The key to speeding up the search for the cure is data. There already are tons of data, but in silos so that no one silo has enough data to make the big discoveries. Partnerships like this break down those silos and gives us access to that critical mass of data that will generate breakthroughs! Good job.
Disclaimer: I am a founder of and a consultant to xCures!
Mike is a friend of mine and a volunteer for the Musella Foundation!
This is an amazing invention. They modified a common bacteria so that it preferentially infects glioblastoma cells. A lot of work needs to be done before this can be used as a treatment but it is a completely new approach of delivering treatments to the tumor cells. They claim it is a lot safer than viruses - the bacteria are very sensitive to many antibiotics - although they do say it is possible for them to mutate to antibiotic resistance so they need to build in a separate kill switch before using on people. It is also much larger than viruses - it can theoretically allow multiple mechanisms of killing tumor cells built into each virus. I will keep an eye on this and let you know of future progress!
Ganciclovir is a drug that is FDA approved to treat cytomegalovirus (CMV). There is some evidence (and also some evidence against - see this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9353163/) that CMV may either cause glioblastomas or contribute to the growth of these tumors. If true, it would make sense that an anti-CMV drug would help. Early results of a vaccine against CMV showed promising results. We need more research on this topic because this drug (and similar drugs) are readily available, relatively cheap and easy to use.
This is a very interesting new type of immunotherapy for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma. First, they remove the tumor, and enhance the sample and kill the tumor cells in the sample, then implant it back into the stomach in a biodiffusion chamber which is removed in 2-3 days, then you continue on with the standard therapy/ The idea is to stimulate an immune response against the tumor. There is a chance of getting a placebo. The problem is you have very little time to decide - the decision to enter the trial has to be done before your first surgery and you have to be close to a participating center.
The Society Of Neuro-Oncology annual meeting is the big event of the year for brain cancer research. Here Vanessa discussed some of the most important research that was presented at this year's SNO 2023!
They report that the five year survival rate for low grade glioma (at their facility) has hit 100% and the ten year survival hit 96%. This is amazing and groundbreaking!
