Has anyone heard of the drug = " Mepolizumab " ? ..

[vittorio]

I recently had my three monthly check up with my Consultant , for my " Copd / Emphysema with Asthma overlap " .... ( what a diagnosis ! - takes your breath away, just saying it ! ! ) ...which he said he would like to try this drug - =" Mepolizumab" on me , which has recently been given a " License " to be used .My consultant told me that only a Consultant who specialises in giving this drug is able to administer it , so he will pass me on to his colleague for this " Treatment " . I did hear on the grapevine its a rather expensive drug , someone said " Hundreds " - I hope not - there are more deserving cases than I , but apart from this , the NHS can't really afford splashing out this sort of money , and why these dugs cost a packet in the first place baffles me - sounds like a " Nice little earner for someone " ...any comments please ? - thanklies in advance !

[mrsmummy]

All I know is that it is a fairly new treatment for certain types of asthma. I hope you do well on it.

[Salmo]

It is a drug used for treating diseases caused by accumulation in the lungs of a type of blood cell called an eosinophil. Presumably your doctor has seem that you have elevated levels of eosinophils in your blood or lungs.

Meopluzimab is an antibody (hence why it is so expensive - think it costs thousands) and works by blocking a chemical from the interleukin family (IL5) that causes eosinophils to be produced and accumulate in the lung where they wreak havoc. Symptoms of eosinophilic diseases tend to be more asthma related and I thought this was only used in people with quite severe asthma not treated by other means so your doctor must consider it is important.

You may want to check this article that has just been posted - sound slike a similar complex diagnosis. Turns out they were wrngy diagnosed and probably had an eosinophilic disease. I their case this was treated (effectively) with a leukotiene antagonist that blocks one of the chemicals released by eosinophils and other inflammatory cells.

healthunlocked.com/blf/post......

[gaffers]

This drug is a man made antibody(MAB) they are engineered and then( as they are a live antibody) they have to be grown in cells this is extremely expensive

these mabs constitute are a new type of treatment some call immunotherapy some of these mab's treat cancer very effectively,

And there is another new mab that cures 99% of hiv .

Mab's are possibly the greatest chance we have of some real effective treatments for copd

[Shellc]

I have just had 4 months of a similar drug called Xolair which hasn't done a lot for my asthma , I maybe looking at the u mentioned as my next step , it is expensive because of the cost by the drug companies making it although Nhs do get it at a reduced cost, because if the cost u have to be of a certain criteria , in the case of Xolair , it's high allergies count , in the drug your talking about I think it's high white cell count. I go to the Brompton for mine . U can google these new treatments, Xolair been around for about 10 years whereas the other one I think only got the deal of approval for uk last year or even this year . It is given has an I jection 4 weekly .