TPF - PF - induction chemo studies no more

donfoo
donfoo Member Posts: 1,773 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

During my warrior intel outings I dug hard into the whole induction chemo regime some are offered these days. What I found interesting was all the studies dried up around 2010-2011. I did wonder but had no idea at the time.  The one key study I was looking for was the one that evaulated TPF sequential CRT vs CRT only. I did find one study that was phase III but never fully vetted or published in peer journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine.

Last week my MO told me I would not find much any more due to patent on Taxotere expiring in 2011. Both Cisplatin and 5-FU are also generically available so there is no monetary incentive for drug companies to invest or support drug trails that will not yield any return on investment. It also explains why there were several studies comparing TPF vs PF vs either against standard CRT.

On the soapbox for a second. I am a capitalist and small govt. guy to the core yet when I heard this it really made me think that at least in some areas more government support is needed. I have heard other diseases with low financial reward are left to the wayside while other clearly others that have no life saving value (I'm sure you can think of a few) yet are deluged with $$ for research, FDA approval and hard marketing to maximuxe $$. OK, off box.

Hopefully, for those who go down this reasarch path will at least understand why things dried up for this course of treatment. 

Don

 

Comments

  • phrannie51
    phrannie51 Member Posts: 4,716
    #2
    I had to just rely on the Dr.'s...

    to do right by me....I would have been scared even more if they'd have given me a choice to make of which way and what I was going to do. 

    p

  • blackswampboy
    blackswampboy Member Posts: 341
    #3
    studies

    can't say I have any familiarity with TPF or PF...? but haven't taxotere and cisplatin been around for ages? surely there are lots of related studies out there...

    I'm in a study myself (efficacy of erbitux&rads vs. cisplatin&rads), so they're still going on. but yeah, guess it's a fact that newer drugs will get the research $$$.

    as for increased gov't funding of research...ha, don't hold your breath. finding all the recent calls for increased mental health screening sadly amusing. it's all good until the costs hit the table...then that's the end of that plan. if anything, funding for mental health is due to get slashed further, not increased.

  • katenorwood
    katenorwood Member Posts: 1,912
    #4
    soap box yeah.....

    It is a tough road to hoe so to speak.  I have a rare dx....as many do.  We are not considered important enough for most BIG money to even bother with us.  Yes BIG clinics and hospitals know about adenoid cystic carcinoma but I have been told straight up there is NO MONEY to track our dx's and NO MONEY to study it.  Before I hooked up with accoi/accrf I felt like well I guess I'm one that just gets to die.  When they thought I had bone mets in the beginning the medical onc. said if this is what it was, I was to go home and get my affairs in order.  I didn't accept this....in fact I was down right pissed off !  So I started having to get information on my dx, and yeah it looks gloomy....but not a death sentence.  Our private foundation raises it's own money, and petions pharmacuticals and researchers to help us find hope.  They are doing a fantastic job for us....but still we fall short.  I don't know what the answer to this one is....I'm tired.  I won't give up and will continue to fight for a cure.....but it seems we lose so many good and decent people over the God almighty dollar.  Enough of being on my soap box...a bit tired still from lung surgery.  God bless guys and gals !   Katie

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,773 Member
    #5
    blackswampboy said:

    studies

    can't say I have any familiarity with TPF or PF...? but haven't taxotere and cisplatin been around for ages? surely there are lots of related studies out there...

    I'm in a study myself (efficacy of erbitux&rads vs. cisplatin&rads), so they're still going on. but yeah, guess it's a fact that newer drugs will get the research $$$.

    as for increased gov't funding of research...ha, don't hold your breath. finding all the recent calls for increased mental health screening sadly amusing. it's all good until the costs hit the table...then that's the end of that plan. if anything, funding for mental health is due to get slashed further, not increased.

    T = taxotere (docetaxal) just

    T = taxotere (docetaxal) just went generic 2011

    P = cisPlatin

     

    interesting PF and TPF are not more common acronyms in these parts of the woods.

  • donfoo
    donfoo Member Posts: 1,773 Member
    #6
    katenorwood said:

    soap box yeah.....

    It is a tough road to hoe so to speak.  I have a rare dx....as many do.  We are not considered important enough for most BIG money to even bother with us.  Yes BIG clinics and hospitals know about adenoid cystic carcinoma but I have been told straight up there is NO MONEY to track our dx's and NO MONEY to study it.  Before I hooked up with accoi/accrf I felt like well I guess I'm one that just gets to die.  When they thought I had bone mets in the beginning the medical onc. said if this is what it was, I was to go home and get my affairs in order.  I didn't accept this....in fact I was down right pissed off !  So I started having to get information on my dx, and yeah it looks gloomy....but not a death sentence.  Our private foundation raises it's own money, and petions pharmacuticals and researchers to help us find hope.  They are doing a fantastic job for us....but still we fall short.  I don't know what the answer to this one is....I'm tired.  I won't give up and will continue to fight for a cure.....but it seems we lose so many good and decent people over the God almighty dollar.  Enough of being on my soap box...a bit tired still from lung surgery.  God bless guys and gals !   Katie

    take care Katie.
    too bad

    take care Katie.

    too bad pharmaceutical advances go where the $$ is, sad but true. 

  • blackswampboy
    blackswampboy Member Posts: 341
    #7
    donfoo said:

    T = taxotere (docetaxal) just

    T = taxotere (docetaxal) just went generic 2011

    P = cisPlatin

     

    interesting PF and TPF are not more common acronyms in these parts of the woods.

    they might be common

    they might be common, but I'm an erbitux guy. no experience with induction chemo.

    hard enough to keep track of erbitux = cetuximab, trental = pentoxifylline, ativan = lorazepam, and taxotere = docetaxal...without abbreviations. ;-)

    cheers.

  • blackswampboy
    blackswampboy Member Posts: 341
    #8
    katenorwood said:

    soap box yeah.....

    It is a tough road to hoe so to speak.  I have a rare dx....as many do.  We are not considered important enough for most BIG money to even bother with us.  Yes BIG clinics and hospitals know about adenoid cystic carcinoma but I have been told straight up there is NO MONEY to track our dx's and NO MONEY to study it.  Before I hooked up with accoi/accrf I felt like well I guess I'm one that just gets to die.  When they thought I had bone mets in the beginning the medical onc. said if this is what it was, I was to go home and get my affairs in order.  I didn't accept this....in fact I was down right pissed off !  So I started having to get information on my dx, and yeah it looks gloomy....but not a death sentence.  Our private foundation raises it's own money, and petions pharmacuticals and researchers to help us find hope.  They are doing a fantastic job for us....but still we fall short.  I don't know what the answer to this one is....I'm tired.  I won't give up and will continue to fight for a cure.....but it seems we lose so many good and decent people over the God almighty dollar.  Enough of being on my soap box...a bit tired still from lung surgery.  God bless guys and gals !   Katie

    you look good on the soapbox

    please know that your attitude and your cause do reverberate. righteousness will prevail, sooner or later. 

  • ToBeGolden
    ToBeGolden Member Posts: 695
    #9
    Thank You

    Thank you for the information. Rick.

  • Gazebo78
    Gazebo78 Member Posts: 15
    #10
    blackswampboy said:

    studies

    can't say I have any familiarity with TPF or PF...? but haven't taxotere and cisplatin been around for ages? surely there are lots of related studies out there...

    I'm in a study myself (efficacy of erbitux&rads vs. cisplatin&rads), so they're still going on. but yeah, guess it's a fact that newer drugs will get the research $$$.

    as for increased gov't funding of research...ha, don't hold your breath. finding all the recent calls for increased mental health screening sadly amusing. it's all good until the costs hit the table...then that's the end of that plan. if anything, funding for mental health is due to get slashed further, not increased.

    Your study

    I was just recently diagnosed with a base tongue tumor with involved lymoh nodes.  In my first meeting with my radiation oncologgist yesterday, he asked me to participate in a clinical trial exactly the same as what you mention above.

    So which option did you end up with?  My trial will have me selected randomly for a group so I can't choose which regimen I receive.  Is that how yours works?  How do you feel about the randomness?

    I'm early on and a bit overwhelmed.  Your thuoghts would be appreciated.

     

    Jim

  • blackswampboy
    blackswampboy Member Posts: 341
    #11
    Gazebo78 said:

    Your study

    I was just recently diagnosed with a base tongue tumor with involved lymoh nodes.  In my first meeting with my radiation oncologgist yesterday, he asked me to participate in a clinical trial exactly the same as what you mention above.

    So which option did you end up with?  My trial will have me selected randomly for a group so I can't choose which regimen I receive.  Is that how yours works?  How do you feel about the randomness?

    I'm early on and a bit overwhelmed.  Your thuoghts would be appreciated.

     

    Jim

    hi Jim

    sorry to hear you've had to join us, but welcome. if you're only a bit overwhelmed, you've got warrior blood.

    5-year trial? I just did all the iPad questions again yesterday. "in the past seven days, has your sex drive changed?" lol.

    yes, I was randomly assigned the erbitux group. randomness is what makes trials valid, I guess. my onc was adamant that whatever I ended up with, their goal was to kill the beast. I won't say I didn't harbor a preference for which regimen I got, but either way I would've been confident with my doctors and comfortable with the outcome. I'm also happy to be contributing to the fight in some small way by being a lab rat.

    best wishes and let us know what you decide.

  • AirForce Vet
    AirForce Vet Member Posts: 25
    #12
    Thank you

    You would think for as common as our cancer is more $$$ would be poured into.  But sadly most people feel its our own fault; smoking, drinking as the main drivers of this disease.  Even if your tumor was hpv+. That still denotes bad behavior.  So I have heard this with my own ears, that a lot of people say why spend money on people who caused ther own illness.  Sad but it is what it is

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