Encouraging RIT Data
The American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) held its annual meeting weekend before last and much good news came out of it. The most encouraging news about RIT came from Dr. Mark Kaminski, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan and the developer of Bexxar.
In 1996, Dr. Kaminski initiated a clinical trial using Bexxar as front-line therapy. 76 patients with Stage 3 or 4 follicular lymphoma were enrolled.
At ASCO this year, Dr. Kaminski updated the results of that trial, and he reported that 75% (59 patients) achieved a complete remission with the treatment. 64% of those patients have remained in continuous, complete remission and the median for their progression free survival is now being reached at 9.2 years.
Additionally, no cases of MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) or AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) have been observed. This is particularly significant because conventional cancer treatments - namely, chemotherapy - can cause these secondary cancers.
In human terms, this trial meant that one young mother was spared months of chemotherapy and its potential complications. Teresa was diagnosed in July 1996 when her boys were just 2 and 7. Today, she is a yoga studio owner here in Ann Arbor, where I also live.
Teresa and I met for lunch a few months ago and she told me about her experience. "I was fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time," she said. Dr. Kaminski happened to be her doctor, and he told her about the clinical trial using a new drug (which was not yet named). Teresa's husband, a scientist himself, thought that the drug's science made perfect sense because it specifically targeted the cancerous cells.
Two months after Teresa's diagnosis, in September 1996, she took the drug. Four days later, she went back to work. Teresa told me that she is so grateful that her sons never had to watch her undergo months of chemotherapy. Two injections, a week apart, made her tumors disappear and she has remained healthy all these years.
And so this maturing data continues to prove that many patients can potentially achieve long, continuous remission periods with a one week treatment - and who wouldn't want to avoid more prolonged and more toxic treatments if given a choice?
Betsy