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Wow, I think Wessely just had a breakdown.
Those with signs of active herpes, enterovirus, and parvovirus infection and/or hypogammaglobulinemia, i.e. some portion of ME patients.Ooh, and who would those be?
Those with signs of active herpes, enterovirus, and parvovirus infection and/or hypogammaglobulinemia, i.e. some portion of ME patients.
Oh, crap! Why can't they(you, my son, etc.) take it?Those with signs of active herpes, enterovirus, and parvovirus infection and/or hypogammaglobulinemia, i.e. some portion of ME patients.
We are also conducting an open-label phase II study (KTS-3-2010) aiming to include only patients with either very severe or severe ME/CFS, using the same treatment regimen with rituximab induction and maintenance as described in the study presented here (KTS-2-2010). Patients with very severe ME/CFS have special needs, and both transporting and accommodating them in a busy oncology ward have proved very difficult. Eight patients have been included, and only four with very severe ME/CFS have been given rituximab maintenance treatment in KTS-3-2010. Although the treatment had a slight beneficial effect on two out of four patients with very severe ME/CFS, none of the four will be characterized as responders. B-cell depletion using rituximab for ME/CFS is at present an experimental treatment, and more evidence is needed. 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.
I'm just saying these are contraindications for rituximab use and some (unknown) percentage of ME patients have these conditions.I'm not following. Which group are you saying are the AH,EV, and PV--responders or non-respondersto the drug?
Sorry. I need the whole context repeated.
Seems to be a pattern amongst the results. All but one who became ill as an adolescent/teenager responded, along with most middle aged men. Probably not enough to be statistically significant though...
!
I guess because it's a small study - so cheap to run - and indicates whether it might be worth doing a larger trial. In the case of this study it looks like it was a resounding 'yes'. Makes you wonder why they struggled to get funds for the Phase III trial.
ME Association statement
STATEMENT BY DR CHARLES SHEPHERD, MEDICAL ADVISER, ME ASSOCIATION
The downside is that Rituximab is a very expensive drug with a potential to cause serious side-effects.
However, 12 out of 14 major responders in this study measured physical activity for 4–6 consecutive days in the time interval 15–20 months follow-up, with a mean value for “mean number of steps per 24h” 9829 (range 5794–18177), and a mean value for “maximum number of steps per 24h” 14623 (range 9310–23407).
It is not a very expensive drug, and biosimilars are coming in a few years. In Norway a maintenance dose of Rituximab is $2000. That is $2000 every 3 months. That is nothing compared to many other medicines. Sick patients could get back at work (at least some). It would be economically viable. No doubt about that.
Rituximab: In RA, a typical course of rituximab is 1,000 mg given i.v. over about 4 hours, with a second 1,000 mg dose administered 2 weeks later. The AWP cost of rituximab for a 10mg/ml 10ml vial is $582.19. Therefore, the medication AWP cost for a two dose course of therapy at 1,000 mg per course would be $11,643.80. The yearly cost would depend on the number of course required in that time period.
The medicine cost of a maintenance dose is not $5800 to $6800. It is more like half of that.
https://www.rheumatology.org/publications/hotline/0506newdrugs.asp
Maintenance dose = 500 mg.
Even though it would have been $6000 it would have been relatively cheap compared to other medicines. People get it for R.A, and other diseases that is less disabling than ME. It costs proabably $100,000++ to have people on benefits yearly.