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Cancer

Taking Part in CML Trials

Summary & Participants

Hear one woman's story as she participates in a clinical trial to help fight CML.

Medically Reviewed On: July 11, 2008

Webcast Transcript

HILDY DILLON, MPH: The purpose of cancer clinical trials is to improve current treatments for cancer or to improve the quality of life. For patients with CML, there are many opportunities today for people that are not responding. There might not be a trial for every person, depending upon their history, but it's a time of great hope because there are many new drugs that are being developed that show a lot of promise for people that have not responded to the standard therapy.

ANNOUNCER: The value of clinical trials in CML is well illustrated by the experiences of a patient named Betty. Betty was diagnosed with CML in Fall of 2002. Her blood counts were normalized with hydroxyurea. She then tried interferon, but had an immediate problem with side effects. Then she went on Gleevec. Betty seemed fine for a year. Then blood tests showed her CML was developing resistance to the drug.

BETTY: I went in, and the doctor, he looked at my blood count and he said, "That can't be right." Then he went and looked it up again and it was, and my platelet count was two million.

ANNOUNCER: Hydroxyurea again lowered her blood counts. But her disease was no longer being controlled by Gleevec.

NEIL SHAH, MD, PhD: Betty clearly lost her hematologic response, and as such, I think she is at substantial risk for subsequent disease progression. Although Gleevec remains a wonderful drug for the majority of patients who are taking it and doing well, for those patients whose disease no longer responds, there are really very few medical options available.

ANNOUNCER: Betty says her doctor at the time provided very little information about next steps.

BETTY: The only thing he said was that it just meant that the Gleevec was not working the way it should. I was frustrated, because he just didn't seem to have any more information, or he just said, "Well, we'll hope by the time that the Gleevec completely stops working there will be something else out there." And that's about all he said. So I thought, "Well, if there's something else out there, why don't I find out about it?" And I thought if they were doing it, it would be at UCLA.

ANNOUNCER: Back in 2002, Gleevec was a relatively new drug, and it was Betty who convinced her doctor to try it. Now Betty had to take the lead again.

NEIL SHAH, MD, PhD: She is actually quite a remarkable person. She herself found out about clinical trials for her disease, for disease that had become resistant to Gleevec. So not only did she first propose the idea of Gleevec when she was diagnosed, but when her disease was no longer responding adequately, she did her own homework and found out about our clinical trial and essentially referred herself for participation in our clinical trial.

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