Hi Kati thanks for your help you and your bog are an inspiration and I am following you avidly and hoping with all my heart that you are a responder. Thank you for letting me know your dosage- that is scary. I was told that the dosage that would be used for ME would be the lower dose as per the lymphoma dosage.
Do you need 2 vials each infusion? Are you given an other drugs?
Unfortunately Genetech doesn't sell drugs in Australia I am thinking about trying to buy them in India???
My income is negative so if in the USA I'd qualify for hardship but I'm too ill to get there even if everything else worked out!!!
Hi Fred, for the first 3 infusions I have had 2 full vials. I am not sure what will be done for the next dose. I was expecting to get infusions every 2 months and they have now changed the schedule (they would be Dr K in cunjunction with Mella and Fluge- I assume) - I am pretty much "go with the flow" type of person. It is a real privilege to trial the drug.
My question to you is, where does Australia go for Rituximab? In Canada, we have Roche, they would have sold it to me (with a prescription from a Cdn Dr for 5000$- with a possible 20% discount) but then the Genentech foundation has been very gracious in accepting me for patient assistance.
The dosage would be 500 mg/m2 - I am one who has gained a fair amount of weight with my disease, so my body surface area is over 2.0 m2- they usually cap it at 2.
(for those interested, here is a calculator of your body surface area-
http://www.halls.md/body-surface-area/bsa.htm
It is used for most chemo drugs so an accurate amount of chemo is given according to the size of the patient)