Approved

I’ve officially met the criteria for a clinical trial being conducted at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. This is good news. It is a Phase II trial which was named as one of the 100 Great Investigational Drugs for 2011 by R&D Directions Magazine.

“We are excited with the early promise ICT-107 has demonstrated in extending both progression-free and overall survival in patients with GBM, with no serious adverse events reported to date,” said Manish Singh, Ph.D. President and CEO.

Tina and I will go to Chicago next week for lab work and apharesis (extracting cells from my blood). Then we can return to Atlanta and start radiation and chemo. In the meantime, a vaccine will be made from my cells and some experimental stuff. That will get injected into me. Actually, there’s a 33% chance that I’ll be injected with placebo. Then they monitor how much time passes before the cancer returns.

It’s still a gamble, but better than betting on nothing.

References

• http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01280552
• http://www.newstatesman.com/healthcare-and-pharmaceuticals/2010/10/dendritic-cell-vaccine-method
• http://www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/immunocellular-therapeutics-ict-107-named-one-100-great-investigational-2011-11405.html
• http://www.imuc.com/