Snow Leopard
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Big thanks to Maria indeed, for showing them how much public support there really is!
Welcome to Phoenix Rising!
Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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Here's a history article showing the various drugs under development, from 2010:The Rituximab company may well be working on a very similar new drug, that has the same effects as Rituximab, but can be patented. (I can't remember if I've read any details about this.)
But in any case, I imagine that other pharma companies will likely be testing similar new drugs in clinical trials, to be brought to the market in the not too distant future.
If a similar drug is brought to the market, then the patent-owning company might be interested in getting involved in ME research.
Here's a history article showing the various drugs under development, from 2010:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805725/
"Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies: historical and future perspective"
Humax (fully human, no rodent component) is probably farthest along but I haven't checked.
Thanks for posting that, I hadn't seen that the results were in. I expect that in the U.S., there will be resistance because infusion centers are significant moneymakers.I think they were working on an injectable version which would make giving the drug easier
http://www.roche.com/media/media_releases/med-cor-2012-12-08b.htm
is the person in this piece (very skeptical of Ritux for CFS) a forum member ? http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/rituximab-for-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-jumping-the-g/
Forget it, Jake. It's Science Based Medicine. They like all science except that which relates to ME/CFS, which to them is Bad Science.
This drug is very dangerous and toxic. It is very important to find which patiënts will benefit with objective markers. I think ”only” 30% will benefit from this medicine. I am a little sceptical because ME is primary not an auto-immmune disease. If you read the papers it does not fit. There is more. But time will tell us. I hope no patients will be dead after using Rituximab. Maybe it will turnout like the XMRV story.... I hope i am wrong....
This drug is very dangerous and toxic. It is very important to find which patiënts will benefit with objective markers. I think ”only” 30% will benefit from this medicine. I am a little sceptical because ME is primary not an auto-immmune disease. If you read the papers it does not fit. There is more. But time will tell us. I hope no patients will be dead after using Rituximab. Maybe it will turnout like the XMRV story.... I hope i am wrong....
...But I also wonder if it's too early to know if the improvements seen in the first trial were particularly impressive. A second, slightly larger, trial has been completed, so hopefully we'll see the results of that very soon....
Here Bob, refresh me brain - what trial has been done that we haven't heard the results from yet? I feel like I'm on another planet at the moment. Thanks
I wonder what we might learn if the results of the next phase as not good. Would this mean a) ME is not an autoimmune condition; or b) that simply this drug is not good?
Probably (b). Although maybe (a). I can't offhand think of any research that specifically says patients with ME have similar issues with X cells as this other population who do have an autoimmune condition and are treated successfully with Rituximab.
Comparison studies would be cool I think.
Sorry you're feeling patchy at the mo, Firestormm. I often have the same feeling of not knowing what's going on!
At the IiME conference, Fluge and Mella announced the results of a slightly larger follow-up Rituximab trial, but we're not allowed to know the results until they are published. All accounts suggest that the results are not disappointing.
I think negative results wouldn't tell us anything except that Rituximab doesn't work.
(As far as I know, not all immune conditions respond to Rituximab.)
Yes, it would be interesting to compare ME with any other diseases that respond to Rituximab.
(But apart from cancer, I don't know what conditions respond to Rituximab. Arthritis?)
But the response to Ritixuimab for different conditions might be a result of different mechanisms, so it doesn't mean that the diseases have the same basis, just because they both respond to the same treatment.
I can't think that the results will have been 'bad' or they wouldn't be off on the next step with such vigour. [...] I would be more comfortable if another group of scientists were conducting similar trials or looking at the mechanisms trying to discover the 'why?' but if this all pans out then they will follow.
...The Open Medicine Institute in the US have a $7.65 million Rituximab/Valcyte trial (singly and in combination) that they're seeking funding for. No-one is waiting for more results before committing - they're committed already, and trying to raise the funding.
Hey Sasha, do you happen to know how much they have raised? Only I checked their website the other day and it didn't seem to say much about it. Thanks
From what I recall, Rituximab is used in addition to other treatments in cancer, and most of the risk came from the other treatments.With regards to severe side-effects, I read (in one of the recent IiME conference reports) that Rituximab might present a much smaller danger, to ME patients, of a severe reaction, than it does to cancer patients. I can't remember the reason why.