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User
Posted 26 Aug 2018 at 18:15

In March this year (2018), after being on abiraterone for 9 months, it was found to be losing its benefit. I was offered the choice of further standard treatments or applying to go on a clinical trial, and I chose the latter. Since May I've been on a trial for the PARP inhibitor drug, olaparib. I qualified due to having an ATM gene mutation in the tumour. After 12 weeks, I had the first set of scans, which are showing stable disease, and a small PSA increase (was previously approximately doubling every 12 weeks, but just a 15% rise in first 12 weeks of trial). I'm tolerating the drug well and have no side-effects and still no symptoms. After the first week on the drug I had a few days of back pain, but that went away. Next lot of scans will be at the end of September. I'm wondering if anyone else on the forum has had this drug?

User
Posted 26 Aug 2018 at 23:33

Hi DW,

I went through the eligibility test for this drug and I do actually have a mutation which is of interest to the research team, but it is not yet approved by the Ethics Committee. (My mutation is the BRIP mutation, I understand this is a further mutation of the BRCA gene).

I was offered the opportunity to await the approval of the EC, but my onco couldn't give me any realistic indication of when this might happen. So I declined to go on the trial.

Instead, I have gone forward with the Re-AKT trial and I think I am just on the cusp of acceptance on this. This trial entails Enzalutemide alongside either the trial drug or a placebo. The trial drug is currently only known by its code name - AZD something or other which I presently can't remember.

I was glad  to hear that you are coping well with Rucaparib and I hope this continues. I wish you luck for the rest of the trial.

Peter

User
Posted 28 Aug 2020 at 23:07

Sounds very interesting Dark Warrior, and I wish you all the best with the scans.

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User
Posted 26 Aug 2018 at 23:33

Hi DW,

I went through the eligibility test for this drug and I do actually have a mutation which is of interest to the research team, but it is not yet approved by the Ethics Committee. (My mutation is the BRIP mutation, I understand this is a further mutation of the BRCA gene).

I was offered the opportunity to await the approval of the EC, but my onco couldn't give me any realistic indication of when this might happen. So I declined to go on the trial.

Instead, I have gone forward with the Re-AKT trial and I think I am just on the cusp of acceptance on this. This trial entails Enzalutemide alongside either the trial drug or a placebo. The trial drug is currently only known by its code name - AZD something or other which I presently can't remember.

I was glad  to hear that you are coping well with Rucaparib and I hope this continues. I wish you luck for the rest of the trial.

Peter

User
Posted 27 Aug 2018 at 18:18
I have heard of this trial. Do you know if, should you be put on the enza only arm, you can cross over to the enza+ trial drug arm if your disease progresses? In any case I wish you the best of luck with it.
User
Posted 28 Aug 2018 at 11:42

I don’t think I can do that, but I have an appointment with the trial team tomorrow, so I will ask them. 

But it is a good thought so thank you for that and thanks for your good wishes.

peter 

User
Posted 02 Jan 2019 at 16:34

Well, after 8 months on the trial for olaparib (PARP inhibitor), I was taken off it just before Christmas. While on the trial I’d had fluctuating PSA, but more up than down, and a little bit of progression on the scans. This was temporarily dealt with by an increase in the drug dose, but in December it finally ran out of steam. I feel that the drug kept the lid on things, without producing an actual improvement. The evidence now emerging suggests that BRCA2 mutations respond best to these drugs, and ATM mutations (like mine) not so much.

The MRI scans I had on the trial revealed that one of the mets in my spine could cause problems if not treated and tomorrow I shall start a short course of radiotherapy to sort it out. I’m feeling well overall although I am getting a few niggles from my back (dealing with that by paracetamol).

So what’s next? It could be cabazitaxel, but more interestingly, there’s a trial for an ATR inhibitor that I have asked to be considered for. There’s evidence emerging that this type of drug can produce good responses in ATM-mutated cancer (not just prostate). I’m now waiting to see if I might qualify for a place on the trial, details of which are here:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03188965

….and this describes some of the preclinical evidence:

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/77/13_Supplement/836

 

 

User
Posted 03 Jan 2019 at 14:44

Hi Dark Warrier.

I would exhaust every standard main stream treatment before embarking on a trial. I had eight good months with cabazitaxel before it stopped working. Compared with Doxetaxel, it was a walk in the park. 

I am as you know on a trial but it really is the last chance saloon so buy your self as much time as possible. The trial itself looks interesting but I would not rush into it. 

best regards

User
Posted 10 Apr 2019 at 16:22
Well, I had to take the opportunity to go on this trial back in January as places were very limited and otherwise we’d never have known if it would work for me. After 2 months unfortunately it became evident it wasn’t working. So I had some RT to my lumbar spine to sort out a met there, and next I shall be going back to a standard treatment: Docetaxel. It is now over 3 years since I had my first course of chemo.
User
Posted 28 Aug 2020 at 22:55
A year and 4 months on, and I’ve had 8 rounds of docetaxel and 9 of cabazitaxel. Then a bit of progression on my scans, and worsening mobility, meant that wasn’t working any more. But earlier this month I was able to get on another trial, informally known as Harpoon. This is the name of the company that makes the drug, a form of immunotherapy. The drug brings together T cells of the immune system with cancer cells expressing PSMA, and hence activates the T cells to attack them. It’s a phase 1 trial and the schedule was pretty full on in the first 3 weeks, but is lighter from now on. Side effects have been mainly transient flu symptoms. First scans in late September.
User
Posted 28 Aug 2020 at 23:07

Sounds very interesting Dark Warrior, and I wish you all the best with the scans.

 
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