CANCER STORY: Success & Hard Truth

and its side effects

AstraZeneca informed the FDA of a study involving 1,700 lung cancer patients:

1. Patients who took Iressa lived for 5.6 months.

2. Those given a placebo (inactive, dummy pill) lived for 5.1 months.

The study shows by taking Iressa, patients live longer by TWO weeks. As a result, Iressa was withdrawn in Western countries. However, patients of Asian origin responded slightly better. They lived FOUR months longer.

1. With Iressa lung cancer patients lived 9.5 months.

2. Without Iressa patients lived only ...

 by on 2.8 months and is only 20 to 30% effective?

Nexavar (sorafenit) belongs to a class of target chemo-drug called the Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors. Currently drugs belonging to this group family include Sprycel (dasatinib), Tarceva (erlotinib), Iressa (gefitinib), Gleevec (imatinib), Tykerb (lapatinib) and Sutent (sunitinib). With time, there will be more additions.

The first targeted Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor developed and released to the market is Gleevec, used for chronic leukemia. It was developed in the late 1990′s, ...

Ray (M578) is a restaurant owner in Indonesia. In December 2007, at the age of 53, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He underwent a radical nephrectomy. After the surgery, Ray was well and life was back to normal again. About seven years later, the cancer recurred in his lungs. Ray was put on Sutent and suffered severe intolerable side effects. Ray totally stopped taking Sutent.

The oncologist suggested a new ...

Ray (M578),53-year-old, was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He underwent a radical nephrectomy. About seven years later, the cancer spread to his lungs. Ray was prescribed Sutent (sunitinib) for his problem and was started on this oral drug in late August 2007 at a dose of 50 mg daily for 4 weeks (to be recycled every 6 weeks).

Within days after taking Sutent, Ray developed severe side effects which he found intolerable. ...

SC (TK826) was a 53-year-old male. He had a history of pains in his right shoulder for almost a year. An X-ray did not show any problem. Then in October 2008, his right hand became weak. MRI showed tumour in his spine – T1 / T2. Titanium stent inserted to support the crushed T1. Further investigation indicated the primary as cancer of the kidney. He received 20 radiation treatments. In spite of the treatment, the tumour grew bigger and spread ...