Experience with Clinical Trials or Avastin

slg
slg Member Posts: 200
in Liver Cancer #1
Just met with an Oncologist yestereday and he thinks my husband could end up being eligible for a clinical trial with Avastin or one which combines Nexavar and Xeloda.
Anyone have an information on either of these?

Comments

  • agt_dht
    agt_dht Member Posts: 15
    #2
    Nexavar
    Hi there - You probably know this already, but sorafenib and Nexavar are the same drug -- Nexavar is the brand name, I believe. It's the standard chemo drug for unresectable primary liver cancer, and my husband was on a clinical trial that combined it with erlotinib/placebo. He found the side effects bearable and it did reduce the size of his tumor, although in his case it did not prevent the growth of another tumor elsewhere in his liver. If your husband hasn't tried Nexavar before, it would certainly make sense for his oncologist to prescribe it.
  • slg
    slg Member Posts: 200
    #3
    agt_dht said:

    Nexavar
    Hi there - You probably know this already, but sorafenib and Nexavar are the same drug -- Nexavar is the brand name, I believe. It's the standard chemo drug for unresectable primary liver cancer, and my husband was on a clinical trial that combined it with erlotinib/placebo. He found the side effects bearable and it did reduce the size of his tumor, although in his case it did not prevent the growth of another tumor elsewhere in his liver. If your husband hasn't tried Nexavar before, it would certainly make sense for his oncologist to prescribe it.

    Nexavar
    Yes I do know they are the same. Been there, done that. For one and a half years. We know all about Nexavar/Sorafenib. I was more interested in Avastin and if anyone has any experience with that drug.
  • AEI
    AEI Member Posts: 16
    #4
    slg said:

    Nexavar
    Yes I do know they are the same. Been there, done that. For one and a half years. We know all about Nexavar/Sorafenib. I was more interested in Avastin and if anyone has any experience with that drug.

    Been there, done it
    Sue, my husband was in the Sorafenib / Bevacizumab( Avastin) clinical trial earlier this year. He was in the arm of the trial that would receive both drugs as the treatment. We were really excited and optimistic when he got into that arm of the trial. Within days of starting the trial he had what we thought were possible side effcts, instead he was diagnosed with pneumonia and quickly dropped about 8 pounds. Right after that the high blood pressure problems started, which were a challenge to get under control. He had never had high blood pressure before and the docs said it was drug induced. The Avastin appeared to be the culprit with that one. We finally got the blood pressure drugs figured out and that problem was more less managed. Then after that came the bloody noses, due to those and no clear evidence that the treatment was having a positive effect on the tumor he was pulled from the trial. Hope you have better success with it than we did.
  • slg
    slg Member Posts: 200
    #5
    AEI said:

    Been there, done it
    Sue, my husband was in the Sorafenib / Bevacizumab( Avastin) clinical trial earlier this year. He was in the arm of the trial that would receive both drugs as the treatment. We were really excited and optimistic when he got into that arm of the trial. Within days of starting the trial he had what we thought were possible side effcts, instead he was diagnosed with pneumonia and quickly dropped about 8 pounds. Right after that the high blood pressure problems started, which were a challenge to get under control. He had never had high blood pressure before and the docs said it was drug induced. The Avastin appeared to be the culprit with that one. We finally got the blood pressure drugs figured out and that problem was more less managed. Then after that came the bloody noses, due to those and no clear evidence that the treatment was having a positive effect on the tumor he was pulled from the trial. Hope you have better success with it than we did.

    Avastin/Nexavar
    Thanks AEI for your input. We do appreciate it. Are you sure the side effects weren't caused by the Nexavar? My husband had several side effects but high blood pressure wasn't one of them. Actually the first clinical trial would be the Avastin first before the second choice.
    We are still working on his health/labs/billirubin and ascites before we get to that point...
    Thanks for your input.
  • SarahD
    SarahD Member Posts: 139
    #6
    slg said:

    Avastin/Nexavar
    Thanks AEI for your input. We do appreciate it. Are you sure the side effects weren't caused by the Nexavar? My husband had several side effects but high blood pressure wasn't one of them. Actually the first clinical trial would be the Avastin first before the second choice.
    We are still working on his health/labs/billirubin and ascites before we get to that point...
    Thanks for your input.

    AVASTIN
    My dad tried a clinical trail combining 2 chemo drugs gemzar and oxaliplatin in combination with avastin which is not a chemo drug. Avastin works on the blood vessels and is thought to prevent the tumor from being fed by the blood vessels with that being said it can cause high blood pressure but they will just adjust the BP medications if needed.My dad actually had good response with it it stabalized his liver tumors but had no effect on the mets in his luncgs. The MD thought the stable liver tumors was a result of teh avastin not the chemo. Once he stopped the avastin the cancer took off again. I cant remember why he stopped it. Hope this helps.

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