New Yervoy (ipilimumab) trial in Sydney

[JimJimJimJim]

No one can be sure if a new drug will fight the cancer or not.

The only way to find out is to run a trial.

In most trials some men get the drug, others get a different drug, or a placebo (fake) drug that looks like the real thing.

If you are metastatic, and have not had chemotherapy with something like taxotere there is a new drug being trialled - Ipilimumab, brand name Yervoy.

A new Ipilimumab trial - metastatic pre-chemo is open (including a Kogarah hospital in Sydney).

Yervoy (ipilimumab) is an antibody that is a brake that prevents immune cells from attacking the body’s own tissues and cells in tumors.

Yervoy (ipilimumab) has been shown to attack melanoma tumors, giving a mean of 4 months survival and is approved for this use in the USA.

It is very expensive, and a committee in the UK has recommended against its adoption for melanoma tumors there because of the price and its side-effects.

The company is currently trialling the drug against prostate cancer, but it is far too early to decide on its effectiveness - the point of this trial.

As of September 2008, Medarex was performing a Phase I/II dose escalation clinical trial of ipilimumab in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). As of 2009, some of the patients with advanced prostate cancer had their tumors drastically shrink, promoting further trials.[22]

On June 19, 2009, the Mayo Clinic reported two prostate cancer patients involved in a Phase II study using MDX-010 therapy who had been told initially that their condition was inoperable but had their tumors shrunk by the drug such that operation was possible and are now cancer-free as a result.[23] This press report however was criticized as being somewhat inaccurate and entirely premature. The clinical trials were still at an early stage and were being run alongside other treatments – which could be the real explanation for the tumor shrinkage.[24] It was far too early to say whether ipilimumab has made any difference at all.[25]

So, guidance from your doctor needed if you are considering this one.

Find details of the trial at:

http://clinicaltrial...udy/NCT01057810