Anyone familiar with Mepolizumab (Nucala or Xolair)

[jimborasco]

I am writing to get some information concerning either Nucala or Xolair. Both are new biologics for treatment of asthma and are injected every 28 days. I am usually a lurker (in the US) but read many posts here, usually daily. My only post before this had been concerning Azithromycin.

A little backstory:

My husband has poorly controlled asthma, stage3/4 COPD, and some emphysema. He's 63, quit smoking about 23 years ago after about that many years as a smoker. This past winter, he had several severe exacerbations. He is healthy otherwise and his pulmonologist tells us he's the healthiest patient that he has. He is not on 02, still works regularly and is staying as active as his shortness of breath allows. His pulmonologist is a 2 hour drive each way for us, but he has been a Godsend. Five years ago Jim was just about ready to climb into bed and quit but this doctor (at a large teaching hospital) changed all his meds and together they have made great strides.

Now the doctor feels one Xolair will be a good fit for him. The cost is outrageous, but he has arranged for Jim to get it free of charge for the next year! Now, what concerns us is that these drugs are new, have MANY side effects and we know no one that has any experience with their use.

If anyone has any experience they would be willing to share, Jim and I would be greatly appreciative. It was just approved here November 2015. Thank you in advance for any input.

Best to all of you!

[knitter]

Hi, if you type Xolair and  Nucala into the search box on the top right hand side of this page you can see previous posts on the topic.

Asthma UK website may be of help too. Best wishes

[jimborasco in reply to knitter]

Thank you for the reply. I'll look around and head to the asthma uk site. No one here knows anything about this drug.

[Hidden]

Hi I hope your husband gets some answers and is feeling better soon.  There is also an asthma site on here which might be useful to you.  x

[jimborasco in reply to Hidden]

Thank you! I'll head to the asthma site posthaste!

[peege]

Hello, lots of interesting posts about it come up if you do as Knitter suggests and put Xolair in the search bar top right. Perhaps you can msg the posters who use it directly. 

Good luck. P 

[jimborasco in reply to peege]

Thanks for answering! I'll get started searching.

[clematis5932]

If you go to the asthma community rather than this one type  in Xolair you will find a number of posts regarding this drug.   I was on one of  the trials for this drug fifteen years ago.  It worked wonders for me we were originally told that all people who took part in the trial could if they wanted go onto it once it had its full licence. When it became available to all the NHS refused it to anyone who had not had at least three hospital admissions in the last twelve months, this was because of the cost and also because it had to be administered by a consultant at a hospital.   It has been in use in the UK for many years now.    I progressed from Asthma, so it would no longer be of an help.   I was really upset when I was refused this drug as it had helped me so much.

[clematis5932 in reply to clematis5932]

Sorry hit the send button by mistake.    The only side effect I had was a slight swelling on my arm a couple of days after the injection together with some itching on the upper arm this would last a few days but it was a small price to pay.   I was allergic to lots of things that would make me very breathless and make me feel that I had a bad cold, all this went after a couple of months.

[jimborasco in reply to clematis5932]

I'm so sorry to hear that you no longer were able to get something that helped you! And thank you for sharing your experience with the drug.