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Fluge & Mella's pre-trial study highlights life-changing potential of rituximab

Sasha submitted a new blog post:

Fluge & Mella's pre-trial study highlights life-changing potential of rituximab

Professor Olav Mella (left) and Dr Oystein Fluge

Sasha gives the background and Simon gives the interpretation of the latest study from Haukeland, published today...

It’s out! Dr Øystein Fluge and Professor Olav Mella have published their new study in PLoS ONE. And though the study was not a blinded, placebo-controlled trial, the results are further evidence that rituximab is beneficial in some ME/CFS patients, and potentially life-changing for a substantial minority. The findings also give important new insights into the optimum dosing schedule to maintain those benefits in the long run.

We all know the story that led up to this study: cancer specialists Fluge and Mella treated an ME patient for cancer with the immune-system drug rituximab. The patient’s ME symptoms improved markedly. The effect was confirmed in two additional patients and so Fluge and Mella set up a 30-patient, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of rituximab in ME/CFS.

The results, when published in October 2011, were striking: although there were no differences between the two groups at the pre-defined endpoint of three months, 67% of patients receiving rituximab had moderate to major improvement during follow-up, compared to only 13% of placebo patients (p=0.003).

And not only that: there was a tell-tale delay of several months in the improvement. This time-lag suggested that it was rituximab’s B-cell destroying capabilities that were responsible. That, in turn suggested that rituximab was switching off an autoimmune process (some B-cells produce antibodies that attack the body’s own tissues).

The findings took the ME/CFS world by storm and started a sea-change in attitudes to the disease. The Norwegian Health Directorate apologised for how ME patients had been treated. Researchers and clinicians outside the ME/CFS community began to focus on autoimmunity as a hypothesis rather than psychology. Fundraising efforts for more rituximab trials started up all over the world, including MEandYou’s successful crowdfund in Norway and the ongoing fundraising for Invest in ME’s UK rituximab trial and B-cell studies.

Meanwhile, Fluge and Mella set up a small study – this newly published study – to inform the design of a larger trial. In their original placebo-controlled study, most of the patients who benefited from rituximab had a transient response and then relapsed. Fluge and Mella needed to investigate the best dosing schedule, and other aspects of rituximab’s use.

The large multi-centre rituximab trial is now underway in Norway, led by Fluge and Mella and funded by MEandYou, the Norwegian government, and others. It’s another double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised study and has 152 patients, who will be followed up for 24 months post-treatment: results won’t be available until 2017 or 2018.

Meanwhile, this new study has much to tell us. Over to Simon, to take a look at it.

Haukeland University Hospital, the site of the initial pilot and ongoing rituximab studies


The science


Thanks, Sasha...
In a subgroup of ME/CFS patients, prolonged B-cell depletion with rituximab maintenance infusions was associated with sustained clinical responses.

Dr Fluge, Professor Mella and colleagues

The study findings are very encouraging. 64% of patients showed a clinical response, similar to the 67% seen in the original trial. Half were classed as major responders. And at the end of the study a quarter of patients were doing exceptionally well: in my opinion the data suggests they were close to recovery.


Some limitations
This was an ‘open label’ trial, in which all patients and medical staff knew the patients were on rituximab, and there was no control group. Some of the improvements recorded might have been down to placebo response, and/or ‘response bias’, in which patients subconsciously overstate their improvements (all outcomes were self-reported). Some patients may have simply improved naturally, regardless of the rituximab treatment.

Most of these patients had featured in the earlier trials: nine from the trial placebo group, nine from the rituximab group and one pilot patient.

Only ten patients were new, so response rates for this and the previous trial are largely based on a small and highly overlapping group of patients. The response rates seen here might not be replicated in a wider group of patients (leaving aside that this and the earlier trial are small studies).

The only way to remove such problems is to conduct a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial – which is exactly what Fluge and Mella have organised, with a large multi-centre trial under way in Norway. This latest study was set up to help plan that large trial..​


A word of caution

I want to point out the limitations of this study – limitations the authors note in their paper – before I enthuse about how good some of these results seem to me.

The goal was to help establish the therapeutic effect of repeated maintenance doses of rituximab on long-term response, and to help guide the design of the large clinical trial now under way in Norway. However, it wasn’t a gold-standard placebo-controlled randomised trial, and wasn’t meant to be, and that means we have to be careful about interpreting the results.

First, the study was unblinded – patients and clinicians knew they were dealing with a drug with great potential. That can artificially boost results, to a modest degree.

Second, there was no control group (ideally a placebo group to see how patients would have responded to a dummy treatment), and some of the observed gains might have occurred even if no drug had been given.

And finally, 20 out of the 29 patients had been in previous rituximab studies.

More details are in the box.

How the study worked
All patients met both Fukuda and Canadian consensus criteria. The average age of patients was 40, and 69% were women. They’d been ill for an average of nine years, and 20 (two-thirds) were at least housebound, including three who were mainly bedbound.

The main measure of success was change in fatigue from baseline (see box below). For clinical response, patients needed six consecutive weeks of improvement, and to average at least a slight-to-moderate improvement, including at least one week better than moderate (so at least one of the fatigue symptoms had to be rated as a major improvement). This could be at any time during the 36 months of the study.

Patients received an initial two doses of rituximab two weeks apart and then maintenance infusions at 3, 6, 10 and 15 months. They were followed up for a total 36 months.


How fatigue was measured
Patients scored four different aspects of fatigue (fatigue, malaise after exertion, need for rest, and lack of daily functioning) on a scale of 0 to 6. The overall fatigue score was the average of the scores for the four different aspects.
On the 0-6 scale, 3 was the midpoint, meaning there was no difference from baseline. 4, 5 and 6 corresponded to slight, moderate and major improvement from baseline, respectively. 2, 1 and 0 meant slight, moderate and major worsening, respectively.
This was the same scale as used in the small placebo-controlled trial. Although this scale hasn't been formally validated, the authors also used the validated and widely used SF-36 health scale, and the SF-36 results told the same story as the fatigue scale.


Results

"Eleven of the 18 responders were still in remission three years after beginning the treatment, and some have now had no symptoms for five years," says Fluge. "Suddenly, their limbs started to work again and their hands were no longer cold or sweaty." (From an interview in the New Scientist)

Of the 28 patients who received any maintenance doses, 18 (64%) showed a clinical response, similar to the 67% seen in the initial trial. 14 were classed as major responders and four as ‘moderate responders’.

Thus, half of the patients showed a ‘major’ response, with an average response period of 105 weeks (out of 156 weeks in the study). Typically, patients didn’t start improving until 23 weeks after the first dose of rituximab.

Peak response, and relapse for some
The results for patients overall peaked at 20 to 24 months, which was 5 to 9 months after most patients had had their final dose. (Some patients who were responding slowly received more, but these additional doses didn’t seem to make much difference.)

During this peak response time, the average SF-36 scores for major responders matched average population scores (though some were well below average, at levels typically seen in people who have long-term illness). That’s a big improvement from baseline when the scores showed they were all well and truly sick.

However, some patients declined after this peak period, including four major responders who, after doing extremely well, relapsed severely – almost back to baseline levels.

Even so, nine out of 14 major responders (32% of patients) were still showing a clinical response, of various levels, at the end of the study. Including moderate responders, eleven were still in response at the end of the study, showing that repeated rituximab dosing had given a sustained response, right to the end of the study for some.

Rituximab in action: binds to CD20 protein on the B-cell surface, triggering cell death. Credit: NIAID


Mega-responders?


However, for me, the big story of this study is the substantial group who did exceptionally well, though I should stress this is my interpretation of the data in the paper rather than anything the authors have claimed. There is a wealth of data in the paper, down to the level of individual patients. Seven patients – a quarter of those who had maintenance rituximab doses – showed a response that looks close to recovery at the end of the trial, that is, at 32 to 36 months, which is the final data point on the graph of outcomes. Fatigue, SF-36 Physical Function and self-rated daily functioning scores all look very impressive:
  • Seven patients reported the maximum possible fatigue improvement from baseline, that is, major improvement in all four fatigue symptoms. One patient was actually just shy of the maximum, scoring approximately 5.9 out of 6.0 (Fig 2A).
  • Seven had a SF-36 Physical Function score of 85 or more, which is equal to or better than the population average (Fig 5A).
  • Seven had function levels of 80% or higher (someone at 80%-90% is defined as having "slight restrictions in physical or social functioning, who may perform all activities almost as a completely healthy person, but at a reduced pace or duration"), with two scoring 100% (Fig 6B).
All of the patients in the study started with low scores in each of these three areas, so those highs represent huge progress. There is no guarantee that the same seven patients have top sores in each of those three areas, but it seems very plausible.

While the placebo effect and response-bias may occur, they are relatively modest effects. And with ME/CFS, natural recovery rates are low. So these ‘mega-responder’ results strike me as very impressive, and important. Such life-changing improvements are not a common feature of ME/CFS clinical trials.

In the paper, the authors say:
"One pilot patient is still in complete response with no ME/CFS symptoms even after vigorous exercise, five years after the first, and 3 ½ years after the last rituximab infusion”.​

“Some have now had no symptoms for five years," added Fluge, talking to the New Scientist, which also quoted Nancy Klimas:
"I am very intrigued by the rituximab story," says Nancy Klimas, an authority on CFS at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "It's particularly exciting when people seem to have experienced very long periods of remission, and even speak of recovery," she says.​


Safety

“There was no unexpected toxicity.”
One patient had an allergic reaction to the initial rituximab dose and took no further part in the trial, leaving 28 patients who passed the ‘induction’ phase. A second had an allergic reaction at the three-month infusion and received no further rituximab doses.

Two patients had an episode of uncomplicated late-onset neutropenia, with recovery after five days. ('Neutropenia' means low levels of neutrophils, which are first-response immune cells that are in the front line of the body’s immune response. Late-onset neutropenia is a known side-effect of rituximab treatment: 9% of patients on rituximab got it in one study, but neutrophil levels normally recover.)

Eight patients experienced one or more transient ME/CFS symptom flares after rituximab infusions. One patient developed breast cancer but this was not judged to be related to rituximab.

As Fluge and Mella state:​
“Rituximab maintenance treatment is generally considered safe [the]. However, even if severe adverse effects are rare, they may occur and include defects in immune reconstitution, and reactivation of chronic viral infections such as hepatitis."​
Safety for ME/CFS will be assessed further in the ongoing large clinical trial. Monitoring of rituximab in other illnesses indicate it is generally safe, but not without some risk.​

How does this compare with the PACE Trial?

Just to put them in some sort of context, it's worth making a rough comparison (given available data) with the PACE Trial, whose cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) are often presented as the best treatments currently available to ME/CFS patients.

Obviously, PACE was a randomised trial, was very large, and had a control group – but there was no placebo group and the study was 'unblinded' like this one: that is, patients knew if they were in an active therapy group.

The PACE Trial authors claimed a 22% 'recovery' rate for both CBT and GET (compared with 8% for controls), but the recovery rate was built on the primary outcomes of fatigue and function, including an SF-36 Physical Function score of just 60, compared with the 85 I used above. These recovery criteria have been criticised as too weak, both by patients and at least one proponent of CBT.

On this basis, with a quarter scoring 85 or over on SF36 Physical Function, the new rituximab results look very good compared with PACE. We will, of course, have to wait until the full randomised controlled rituximab trial that is under way in Norway is complete before a proper comparison is possible. But in the meantime I think these results are very promising indeed.

Do not try this at home!
These results are promising but please bear in mind the authors’ caution: “We do not encourage the use of rituximab for ME/CFS outside of approved clinical trials, and this is especially important for the group with very severe disease.”

They also reported trying rituximab on four very severely affected patients, with disappointing results.

Evidence of Autoimmunithy
The authors finish up by pointing out that their new results are further evidence that a subgroup of ME/CFS patients have an autoimmune disease. Rituximab is a proven treatment for several autoimmune diseases. It destroys B-cells, wiping out the supply of autoantibodies. Antibodies are produced in bulk by plasma cells (created from B-cells). These are not affected by rituximab and so continue to produce antibodies for several months before dying off. That could explain the pronounced time-lag seen in the clinical responses: it’s not until plasma cells die off and are not replaced (because B-cells have been wiped out) that autoantibodies decline and symptoms improve.

However, say the authors, other mechanisms than autoimmunity may explain the observed clinical effects of B-cell depletion on ME/CFS symptom maintenance. Rituximab influences other types of immune function, including T-cell functioning.

Winning over sceptics
These impressive new results for rituximab are already having an impact. Professor Sir Simon Wessely, a critic of the original rituximab trial, is impressed by the latest findings: “There is now a strong case to be made for a larger trial”, he told the New Scientist. Happily, just such a trial is in progress.

Disclaimer: my section of the blog was put together in a hurry. The paper is huge and while I think I’ve given a fair (though by no means comprehensive) report of the study there may be errors. If so, please let me know!

And back to Sasha...

An opportunity!


This story may well hit the news and if it does, we should hijack the media with our own messages: that ME/CFS is a serious, organic disease and that people should donate to the biomedical research charities (and in this instance, it would be particularly appropriate to mention Invest in ME’s UK rituximab trial fund). This is a great opportunity to educate, win hearts and minds, and grow our donor base. This recent article explains how.

And of course, we too can donate, including via JustGiving. Let’s get to it!

Further resources


Compilation of Phoenix Rising tweets on Dr Fluge and Professor Mella's rituximab presentation at the 2015 Invest in ME conference

Dr Ros Vallings's summary of the 2015 Invest in ME conference, including an account of Dr Fluge and Professor Mella's rituximab presentation

Simon McGrath blogs about ME/CFS research



There are many ways you can help Phoenix Rising to continue its work. If you feel able to offer your time and talent, we could really use some more authors, proof-readers, fundraisers, technicians etc. We’d also love to expand our Board of Directors. So, if you think you can help in any way then please contact Mark through the Forums.

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Continue reading the Original Blog Post
 
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I'm really late to the party here as I just joined PR - But this does look promising.

@Legendrew - I'm so happy for you! I've had this for 29 years (severe-moderate) and it's been my experience with a number of friends who have had CFS that recovered to your level within the first few years of illness, that they have remained well to this day. I'm holding a good thought for you.

@Sasha & @Simon - Thank you for your labors of love.
 
Thanks for this great articel!

Dose anyone know if, as i read in the trial-report, one need to have a activated immunesystem to have a chance to respons to cyclophosphamide? I’m in the very severly long-term group and a ME-specialist thinks i've a low immunesystem (exhausted?). Is there no hope to fit cyclophosphamide then:( ?

Sorry, Andrea that this disease is hurting you so badly. Today, I am feeling sorry for me but just because of symptoms, not data. I'll go try and:hug: gather some good healthy, cheerful spirits and ask if they would surround us all. iz
 
"The authors finish up by pointing out their new results are further evidence that a subgroup of ME/CFS patients have an autoimmune disease." I think this was attributed to Simon (thank you to both Simon and Sasha for your excellent efforts!), but it's what the study's authors apparently wrote. Regardless it both confuses and concerns me.

I do not think we should say that some ME/CFS patients have an autoimmune disorder, and some don't. It's like we are uncertain about what ME/CFS is - which maybe we are, but this is not nuanced, it's a large mallet striking readers between the eyes. You cannot say some ME/CFSers' symptoms are due to an autoimmune disorder, anymore than you can say some ME/CFS patients symptoms are due to cancer - they either have cancer, or they have an autoimmune disorder, one of which may have the label 'ME/CFS', but that label would have to apply to all who have ME/CFS.

How we each got to ME/CFS may be different, and indeed, those pathways may be heterogeneous, but if ME/CFS is an autoimmune disease triggered by EBV or an enterovirus or Borrelia etc, it is nevertheless an autoimmune disease for all who have ME/CFS.

If my Lyme led to ME/CFS, then I have ME/CFS. But if I what I suffer from is some form of persistent Lyme, then I do not have ME/CFS, any more than someone with a post viral syndrome might. (I understand the two are not mutually exclusive, but for the sake of my point...)

If ME/CFS is an autoimmune disorder, then it is an autoimmune disorder for all. This not a transition; it is the end point. What got us here may be peculiar to each, but the destination is shared. Like cancer.

I think it would be just as odd to state that a subgroup of MS is an autoimmune disorder. This is definitional.

Or am I missing something?


Duncan:
Many of us were diagnosed with floppy diagnostic criteria. I just read a medical article directly responding to and arguing at the ICC. Many of the criteria are floppy. And CDC intentionally set the stage to create diagnostic havoc 3 decades ago. And, boy, they did.

I just got denied help by the state even though my medical and other situations are desperate I can walk only a few feet but then relapse. And yet this state person started yelling at me that nothing was wrong with me and slammed the door. She really did a long, crazy madwoman on me. The stress was so immense I've gone into a state of collapse, which I was just teetering on before then. It appears that she doesn't think ME or CFS are real.

One of the first things that goes in me is that I cannot talk coherently, which is pretty much always. We're all a bit different. :D

The CDC sure made a mess of things. So, there are thousands of doctors diagnosing thousands of pts. more so these last 30 years, using many dozens of criteria, through the minds of drastically different doctors and other people, some of dubious minds and intent and others a spiritual awakening and if we all thought alike, what would we say to each other to make us feel better.

It's good this site has an effective posse, hehe ;). :)

I have just gone into spasms, my hands arms flailed and accidentally blasted my keyboard and my computer went blank, so, hope I made some sense and didn't offend.

Take care. iz
 
I know we still have not even started the UK Rituxamib trial but I am wondering what the realistic time scale is when - if successful - Rituxamib could be used to treat people living with ME?

Will the UK medical authorities accept clearance from Norway or do we have to go through all the phases in the UK? I have no idea whether the fact that Rituxamib being used for other illnesses helps to "speed" up the process?

If Norway does find it to officially be successful and they have signed off on this then could somebody from the UK pay privately to be treated in Norway? Or in the US?

I again do not know the process but I think in the US there is a patent coming to the end for Rituxamib ... Does this mean the drug may become more accessible?

Thank you for any guidance. There just seems to be some true hope that some of us might have a chink of light but obviously the years go by ...

Sally
 
I know we still have not even started the UK Rituxamib trial but I am wondering what the realistic time scale is when - if successful - Rituxamib could be used to treat people living with ME?
I can't remember exactly where this was discussed but @charles shepherd conservatively estimated not before 2022. He seemed to suggest that a UK Phase III trial would be required.

I'd start saving for private treatment now if you're in a position to. We're likely to know the Norway results in 2018.
 
I think saving is the right word but a lot of it. "Luckily" ME prevented me from being able to have the children I desperately wanted, so I'll start to put pennies aside and hope the end of the patent might mean the price lowers in the future.

Of course as I age the possibility of recovery looks as though it might fade .. Hmmmm
 
I'd start saving for private treatment now if you're in a position to. We're likely to know the Norway results in 2018.

It hadn't occurred to me that private treatment in the UK would be possible even if it wasn't available on the NHS but is that likely? Wouldn't there be problems with a doctor prescribing something like rtx off-label in the UK?

@Jonathan Edwards (is there no end to the questions that we can ask you about rtx!)?
 
It hadn't occurred to me that private treatment in the UK would be possible even if it wasn't available on the NHS but is that likely? Wouldn't there be problems with a doctor prescribing something like rtx off-label in the UK?

@Jonathan Edwards (is there no end to the questions that we can ask you about rtx!)?

I don't know, but the "off-label" would probably have to carry the same warning.

"
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
BOXED WARNINGS

WARNING: FATAL INFUSION REACTIONS, SEVERE MUCOCUTANEOUS REACTIONS, HEPATITIS B VIRUS REACTIVATION and PROGRESSIVE MULTIFOCAL LEUKOENCEPHALOPATHY

  • Infusion Reactions: RITUXAN administration can result in serious, including fatal infusion reactions. Deaths within 24 hours of RITUXAN infusion have occurred. Approximately 80% of fatal infusion reactions occurred in association with the first infusion. Monitor patients closely. Discontinue RITUXAN infusion for severe reactions and provide medical treatment for Grade 3 or 4 infusion reactions
  • Severe Mucocutaneous Reactions: Severe, including fatal, mucocutaneous reactions can occur in patients receiving RITUXAN
  • Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Reactivation: HBV reactivation can occur in patients treated with RITUXAN, in some cases resulting in fulminant hepatitis, hepatic failure, and death. Screen all patients for HBV infection before treatment initiation, and monitor patients during and after treatment with RITUXAN. Discontinue RITUXAN and concomitant medications in the event of HBV reactivation
  • Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), including fatal PML, can occur in patients receiving RITUXAN
Warnings and Precautions
TUMOR LYSIS SYNDROME
  • Acute renal failure, hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, hyperuricemia, or hyperphosphatemia from tumor lysis, some fatal, can occur within 12−24 hours after the first infusion of RITUXAN in patients with NHL. A high number of circulating malignant cells (≥25,000/mm3) or high tumor burden, confers a greater risk of TLS. Administer aggressive intravenous hydration and anti hyperuricemic therapy in patients at high risk for TLS
INFECTIONS
  • Serious, including fatal, bacterial, fungal, and new or reactivated viral infections can occur during and following the completion of RITUXAN-based therapy. Discontinue RITUXAN for serious infections and institute appropriate anti infective therapy
CARDIOVASCULAR
  • Discontinue infusions for serious or life threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Perform cardiac monitoring during and after all infusions of RITUXAN for patients who develop clinically significant arrhythmias, or who have a history of arrhythmia or angina
RENAL
  • Severe, including fatal, renal toxicity can occur after RITUXAN administration in patients with NHL. Monitor closely for signs of renal failure and discontinue RITUXAN in patients with a rising serum creatinine or oliguria
BOWEL OBSTRUCTION AND PERFORATION
  • Abdominal pain, bowel obstruction and perforation, in some cases leading to death, can occur in patients receiving RITUXAN in combination with chemotherapy. Evaluate if symptoms of obstruction such as abdominal pain or repeated vomiting occur
IMMUNIZATION
  • The safety of immunization with live viral vaccines following RITUXAN therapy has not been studied and vaccination with live virus vaccines is not recommended
LABORATORY MONITORING
  • Obtain complete blood counts (CBC) prior to each RITUXAN course
Additional Important Safety Information
  • The most common Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions in clinical trials of NHL and CLL were infusion reactions, neutropenia, leukopenia, anemia, thrombocytopenia, and infections. Additionally, lymphopenia and lung disorder were seen in NHL trials; and febrile neutropenia, pancytopenia, hypotension, and hepatitis B were seen in CLL trials
  • The most common adverse reactions (incidence ≥25%) in clinical trials of NHL and CLL were infusion reactions. Additionally, fever, lymphopenia, chills, infection, and asthenia were seen in NHL trials; and neutropenia was seen in CLL trials
  • Pregnancy: Category C. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of rituximab in pregnant women
For additional safety information, please see the full prescribing information, including BOXED WARNINGS and Medication Guide.

Attention Healthcare Provider: Provide Medication Guide to patient prior to RITUXAN infusion.

You may report side effects to the FDA at (800) FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.

You may also report side effects to Genentech at (888) 835-2555.

© 2015 Genentech USA, Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. All rights reserved. This site is intended for U.S. residents only.
Jointly Marketed by: Biogen Idec Inc. and Genentech USA, Inc. Rituxan® is a registered trademark of Biogen Idec Inc.

 
Am I right they rituxamib is a biotech medicine that would mean it is difficult to produce it as a generic drug? My understanding is limited as I'm sure you can tell, but trying to learn and to not develop false expectations.

Having had ME for 9 years (not as long as many others) but noticing a significant progression particularly over the past 2 years and having become nearly totally bed and house bound I am eager to fully understand and accept how this works?

Sally
 
Am I right they rituxamib is a biotech medicine that would mean it is difficult to produce it as a generic drug? My understanding is limited as I'm sure you can tell, but trying to learn and to not develop false expectations.

Having had ME for 9 years (not as long as many others) but noticing a significant progression particularly over the past 2 years and having become nearly totally bed and house bound I am eager to fully understand and accept how this works?

Sally

Generic rituximab exists. It is made in India and is called reditux. Making generic biologics is no problem if you have the technology. There are issues about checking equal efficacy but there is no big problem here. Cost will come down sometime fairly soon.
 
It hadn't occurred to me that private treatment in the UK would be possible even if it wasn't available on the NHS but is that likely? Wouldn't there be problems with a doctor prescribing something like rtx off-label in the UK?

@Jonathan Edwards (is there no end to the questions that we can ask you about rtx!)?

There is no particular problem with prescription off label. I did it for years. A few patients paid for their drug although everything else was done through NHS. I personally would not want to offer rituximab for ME unless I was actually doing a trial or at least collecting data for publication. There is still a lot of uncertainty. I might feel differently if ME had been my special interest as a clinician I admit. But the commitment to long term ongoing patient care with the potential for unpredictable troubleshooting is huge. I could handle that as a cushioned academic working on RA but very few physicians who know how to use rituximab will be in a position to offer it in ME. There are a small number who could but they need resources to be able to handle the background planning needed.
 
There is no particular problem with prescription off label. I did it for years. A few patients paid for their drug although everything else was done through NHS. I personally would not want to offer rituximab for ME unless I was actually doing a trial or at least collecting data for publication. There is still a lot of uncertainty. I might feel differently if ME had been my special interest as a clinician I admit. But the commitment to long term ongoing patient care with the potential for unpredictable troubleshooting is huge. I could handle that as a cushioned academic working on RA but very few physicians who know how to use rituximab will be in a position to offer it in ME. There are a small number who could but they need resources to be able to handle the background planning needed.

I had thought that it wasn't possible to get rtx off-label now, even if one could find a willing doctor. Is that wrong?

I'm a bit confused about whether you're talking about a future situation (when, say, F&M's trial has confirmed efficacy but it's too soon for the NHS to have approved rtx) or now.

And if we get to the point when the NHS approves rtx for ME, are you saying that you don't think that the doctors here who know how to use rtx will be in a position to offer it to PWME?
 
I had thought that it wasn't possible to get rtx off-label now, even if one could find a willing doctor. Is that wrong?

I'm a bit confused about whether you're talking about a future situation (when, say, F&M's trial has confirmed efficacy but it's too soon for the NHS to have approved rtx) or now.

And if we get to the point when the NHS approves rtx for ME, are you saying that you don't think that the doctors here who know how to use rtx will be in a position to offer it to PWME?

As far as I know it is still possible for doctors to prescribe off label. It would be more or less impossible on the NHS though. I was talking about the current situation. If we have more data, especially the Norwegian trial, then everything changes and use of rituximab before any official NICE decision may be quite realistic, although it will all depend on the circumstances.