docetaxol and bavituximab

NayPaul
NayPaul Member Posts: 230 Member
in Lung Cancer #1
My wife is currently on second line therapy with these two drugs..... bavituximab is an investigational drug. She may be receiving a placebo in its place, but based on her side effects after receiving the bavituximab/placebo, we believe she is getting it.

We received her results today of her scans after her first six weeks of treatment.... two rounds of docetaxol, and weekly infusuins of bavituximab/placebo. The tumor is again stable and her bone mestastsis are showing signs of improvement.

We r pretty excited about this. She gets her next round of docetaxol and bavituximab/placebo this week. The docetaxol usually wears her down and she has had low red blood cell counts which make her tired. However we will walk 14 miles on Saturday in preparation for a walking marathon that she is adamant she will do in september... a year after her stage iv diagnosis.

Like many of you on this board, she inspires me.

Comments

  • jimsgtx
    jimsgtx Member Posts: 1
    #2
    How is she doing?
    Hi, just came across your post and was wondering how your wife is doing?
  • mamacita5
    mamacita5 Member Posts: 254 Member
    #3
    jimsgtx said:

    How is she doing?
    Hi, just came across your post and was wondering how your wife is doing?

    Good news indeed! So happy
    Good news indeed! So happy for you both :)
  • mamacita5
    mamacita5 Member Posts: 254 Member
    #4
    mamacita5 said:

    Good news indeed! So happy
    Good news indeed! So happy for you both :)

    Sorry the thread was old...
    I didn't notice this was a post from June. I thought there was more good news. I do hope all is well though!
  • NayPaul
    NayPaul Member Posts: 230 Member
    #5
    mamacita5 said:

    Sorry the thread was old...
    I didn't notice this was a post from June. I thought there was more good news. I do hope all is well though!

    Update
    Mamacita... you are always so positive. :)

    For those wondering about our experience with bavituximab....

    My wife was taken off this regiman in July when it was discovered she had brain mets. HOWEVER.... the spots were so small that it was just coincedence that they were found, and the radiologists as well as both oncologists said it would have been months before the spots were large enough to have caused a problem. But study protocol was that any sign of brain mets ends study involvment.

    Now... the areas that were being measured became stable after she started the regiman. I do believe it was an effective treatment for her... other than the uncertainty that the drug crosses the blood brain barrier. If this treatment is an option for others, I would hope they would strongly consider it. I do believe it and the docetaxol helped.

    My wife has since tested positive for the alk mutation after originally testing negative, and has been on crizotinib since septemeber 1. She had a rough start, but over the last few weeks has made tremendous gains. Most of her gains we attribute to the crizotinib AND changing some meds that she takes for slow stomach emptying(gastoparesis)
  • mamacita5
    mamacita5 Member Posts: 254 Member
    #6
    NayPaul said:

    Update
    Mamacita... you are always so positive. :)

    For those wondering about our experience with bavituximab....

    My wife was taken off this regiman in July when it was discovered she had brain mets. HOWEVER.... the spots were so small that it was just coincedence that they were found, and the radiologists as well as both oncologists said it would have been months before the spots were large enough to have caused a problem. But study protocol was that any sign of brain mets ends study involvment.

    Now... the areas that were being measured became stable after she started the regiman. I do believe it was an effective treatment for her... other than the uncertainty that the drug crosses the blood brain barrier. If this treatment is an option for others, I would hope they would strongly consider it. I do believe it and the docetaxol helped.

    My wife has since tested positive for the alk mutation after originally testing negative, and has been on crizotinib since septemeber 1. She had a rough start, but over the last few weeks has made tremendous gains. Most of her gains we attribute to the crizotinib AND changing some meds that she takes for slow stomach emptying(gastoparesis)

    Thanks so much for the
    Thanks so much for the update. I am SO ROOTING for your beautiful wife! I am in awe of her strong spirit and her desire to push her body to do incredible things like 14 mile walks. So glad she tested positive for the ALK. I tested positive for EGFR and just started Tarceva a month ago. Bone scan on Nov 10 to see if my spinal mets are responding...
  • sleepless in jersey
    sleepless in jersey Member Posts: 185
    #7
    NayPaul said:

    Update
    Mamacita... you are always so positive. :)

    For those wondering about our experience with bavituximab....

    My wife was taken off this regiman in July when it was discovered she had brain mets. HOWEVER.... the spots were so small that it was just coincedence that they were found, and the radiologists as well as both oncologists said it would have been months before the spots were large enough to have caused a problem. But study protocol was that any sign of brain mets ends study involvment.

    Now... the areas that were being measured became stable after she started the regiman. I do believe it was an effective treatment for her... other than the uncertainty that the drug crosses the blood brain barrier. If this treatment is an option for others, I would hope they would strongly consider it. I do believe it and the docetaxol helped.

    My wife has since tested positive for the alk mutation after originally testing negative, and has been on crizotinib since septemeber 1. She had a rough start, but over the last few weeks has made tremendous gains. Most of her gains we attribute to the crizotinib AND changing some meds that she takes for slow stomach emptying(gastoparesis)

    On retesting
    Hello NayPaul~Im glad you both are on a up hill swing right now as Mom's Onc says run with it! We had asked Mom's Onc to have her retested and she said no in so many words. Do to it being very costly and we sent it to a good lab I think she said in Ca, Gen labs? We could down the road if we have reason to believe, but not at this time. Mom's on 3rd line of TX since Jan. What made your Onc resend it out and did the insurance re-pay (heard its very expensive)?

    Many Hugs your way...
  • sleepless in jersey
    sleepless in jersey Member Posts: 185
    #8
    mamacita5 said:

    Thanks so much for the
    Thanks so much for the update. I am SO ROOTING for your beautiful wife! I am in awe of her strong spirit and her desire to push her body to do incredible things like 14 mile walks. So glad she tested positive for the ALK. I tested positive for EGFR and just started Tarceva a month ago. Bone scan on Nov 10 to see if my spinal mets are responding...

    Mamacits -EGFR
    Hello~Just like I just asked NayPaul what made your Onc retest you and did insurance re-pay? Mom tested Neg back in Jan. and Onc is not interested in retesting at this time.

    Wishing shooting stars on Nov. 10th, continue to keep us posted!
    God Bless
  • NayPaul
    NayPaul Member Posts: 230 Member
    #9
    sleepless in jersey said:

    On retesting
    Hello NayPaul~Im glad you both are on a up hill swing right now as Mom's Onc says run with it! We had asked Mom's Onc to have her retested and she said no in so many words. Do to it being very costly and we sent it to a good lab I think she said in Ca, Gen labs? We could down the road if we have reason to believe, but not at this time. Mom's on 3rd line of TX since Jan. What made your Onc resend it out and did the insurance re-pay (heard its very expensive)?

    Many Hugs your way...

    several reasons
    Can't say there was any one reason really. It came down to multiple reasons. They were:

    We had went to a different oncologist for an experimental study. He recommended it.

    Both oncologists agreed with my assessment that since my wife was forty and a nonsmoker that she has a much better chance of having a mutation.

    It started to be reslides that the test for the alk mutation sometimes yields false negatives. As a result, pfizer started allowing outside lab results to be used to get into their study.

    I wanted her tested for kras.because mutations are usually mutually exclusive,a positive kras would help ensure that she was not efgr or alk positive. That test came back negative, so we moved forward with testing for the other two mutations.

    The rest is history. The alk mutation came back positive. To my knowledge, this test does not yield falsepositives... only negatives.
  • sleepless in jersey
    sleepless in jersey Member Posts: 185
    #10
    NayPaul said:

    several reasons
    Can't say there was any one reason really. It came down to multiple reasons. They were:

    We had went to a different oncologist for an experimental study. He recommended it.

    Both oncologists agreed with my assessment that since my wife was forty and a nonsmoker that she has a much better chance of having a mutation.

    It started to be reslides that the test for the alk mutation sometimes yields false negatives. As a result, pfizer started allowing outside lab results to be used to get into their study.

    I wanted her tested for kras.because mutations are usually mutually exclusive,a positive kras would help ensure that she was not efgr or alk positive. That test came back negative, so we moved forward with testing for the other two mutations.

    The rest is history. The alk mutation came back positive. To my knowledge, this test does not yield falsepositives... only negatives.

    was your wifes original test sent to...
    Was your wifes orginal pathology sent to Ca (is it genetics or gen labs forgive me for not having it right)if so where was it sent the next time?
    Mom's story is a bit different, dont know if you know her's, but was a smoker for many years and just turned 61 yrs young.
    Im trying and grasping onto anything I could! Im a human sponge trying to absorb it all and just feel like my hard drive is getting full and cant retain it all...LOL

    Thank-you
  • NayPaul
    NayPaul Member Posts: 230 Member
    #11
    sleepless in jersey said:

    was your wifes original test sent to...
    Was your wifes orginal pathology sent to Ca (is it genetics or gen labs forgive me for not having it right)if so where was it sent the next time?
    Mom's story is a bit different, dont know if you know her's, but was a smoker for many years and just turned 61 yrs young.
    Im trying and grasping onto anything I could! Im a human sponge trying to absorb it all and just feel like my hard drive is getting full and cant retain it all...LOL

    Thank-you

    local
    The original alk test was sent to pfizer. Other than that,the faciity. We use does all its testing internally..... and yes, there is a lot to keep. Track of.....its overwhelming.

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