UK first to trial AstraZeneca 'antibody cocktail' aimed at non-vaccine patients

[bennevisplace]

I'm not recruiting for Astrazeneca, but news broke this morning that they are to start phase 3 clinical trials of a long-acting antibody combination AZD7442. This will be aimed at helping clinically vulnerable groups, including immunosuppressed, for whom the COVID vaccines may not be effective lbc.co.uk/news/uk-first-to-...

The trial will recruit 1,000 subjects in the UK, 5,000 globally. I'm going to ask my haematologist, consultation next Tuesday.

An earlier press release gives some background: astrazeneca.com/media-centr...

[annmcgowan]

Hi I saw this on T V this morning and was surprised to hear we may not be able to have the vaccines. If there was any news on this earlier I must have missed it.Ann

[mrsjsmith in reply to annmcgowan]

Bennevisplace and Ann,

Also news to me, but better be forewarned.

Colette

[annmcgowan in reply to mrsjsmith]

True, this gives an opportunity to speak to our specialists about this. Good luck

Ann

[mrsjsmith in reply to annmcgowan]

Agreed and I wonder if many GP’s will be aware of this. Colette

[bennevisplace in reply to annmcgowan]

Re Covid vaccines, the UK government's stated intention is to prioritise NHS and care workers, care home residents, the elderly and the clinically vulnerable. So I don't think there's any plan to deny vaccines to blood cancer patients, any more than we are denied the annual flu jab (in fact we are positively encouraged to have the flu jab).

The issue is whether vaccines will give us adequate protection if our immune system is so screwed up by CLL it won't respond to the vaccine by making antibodies. Getting vaccinated and thinking you are protected when you are not is arguably worse than not being vaccinated. AZD7442 is designed to give protective antibodies to those who can't generate their own. Let's hope it works.

[annmcgowan in reply to bennevisplace]

Thank you for this information. Are you saying the antibodies are in addition to a vaccine?Ann

[Justasheet1 in reply to annmcgowan]

If you get the vaccine in addition to the antibodies mentioned here, yes. With any luck, you will respond to the vaccine and be covered that way too. The antibody medicine being trialed will need to be given again as it’s protection will wane and disappear with time.

Jeff

[annmcgowan in reply to Justasheet1]

Thank you.An

[blowinginthewind]

How are the people for the stage 3 trial being recruited? I would very willingly take part in a Stage 3 trial. I used to work at the cancer centre where I am now a patient, and I have seen the amazing results of trials.

[bennevisplace in reply to blowinginthewind]

Here's the info on the clinicaltrials.gov register clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/resu...

Start date given is 17 November.

Only 1/3 of subjects will be on placebo, that's good.

For study locations it looks like you have to contact Astrazeneca, else your CLL doc. It was reported that 9 locations in the UK are taking part. If you find out more, do let me know!

[blowinginthewind in reply to bennevisplace]

Thanks for this information I will have a look. The only down side is that I might get a placebo. So I wouldn't be confident going out if I didnt know that I had had the real one. I was life threateningly poorly back in February - a routine procedure went badly wrong and I went into respiratory distress. Woke up in ICU. I am told that I made an "amazing" recovery, I was only ventilated for 18 hours, and was out of ICU on 3rd day. And I went back into theatre for the procedure the following week and was fine. I don't want to put my family through that again.

[bennevisplace in reply to blowinginthewind]

Yes I can well understand your caution after such a traumatic experience. If in the trial I would continue to shield regardless, the drug might not be any better than placebo!

[blowinginthewind in reply to bennevisplace]

I agree - I would too. Our daughters are now adult, and they were scared and upset by my illness in February. Christmas is coming and we have all had various (telephone) conversations about what we are going to do. They are both terrified of passing something to me. Which I understand and I appreciate. But I have hardly seen them this year. If I had had the antibodies, I would have been more confident about them coming.

[Justasheet1 in reply to blowinginthewind]

Why don’t they just go get tested before you go see them?We’re visiting our kids and that’s what they’re doing for my wife and I.

[bennevisplace in reply to Justasheet1]

I agree in principle. In the UK the well-tried PCR tests are not available on demand to all comers, free of charge. But in London you can buy one of these tests, couriered to your home, results in 24 hours, for around 200 USD. If the test becomes available where I live I might spend 1400 USD to have a family Christmas.

[blowinginthewind in reply to bennevisplace]

Tests in UK are available for £120, I would pay that if I have to. The sang is that to get one, one of my daughters and her partner would have to either go into the city to get one, or to Trafford Centre which a couple of days before Christmas will be awful even if we are tier 3. Other daughter will have a 5hour drive to get here, and will need to stop on the journey. And her job means that she will around people right up to Christmas eve.

[Justasheet1 in reply to blowinginthewind]

I’m so sorry. I did not expect it to be so costly and difficult.

[blowinginthewind in reply to Justasheet1]

Don't worry - if the local private hospitals were offering them,I would have them done there - but one daughter lives 250 miles away so would have to have it done down there. Current expectation is that she will go to her "bubble" family", and our daughter and partner will come down to us and either have short socially distanced chat, or Christmas Dinner. It will be what it will be - we will have zoom call at some point in the day.

[bennevisplace in reply to Justasheet1]

I suspect that with the promise of limited household mixing at Christmas, the demand for these tests will escalate. In Sussex where I live several private clinics within reach are already offering both conventional PCR and rapid antigen tests - £120 sounds about right, more for a deliveroo-type service.

[Floxxy]

Looks hopeful. X

[Beattiem-UK]

That is really interesting, so thanks for sharing it. I do wonder if those of us on Ibrutinib will be doubly disadvantaged as I believe that it is an immunosuppressant. I'm sure someone will be looking at that from the CLL Society - Dr Koffman?

[bennevisplace in reply to Beattiem-UK]

Targeted therapies seem to be able to restore immune cell numbers and function better than chemo-based therapies. This study sciencedirect.com/science/a... suggests that Ibrutinib is particularly good at restoring T-cell function. Caveat: it's a peer-reviewed article, but the authors have connections with Abbvie-Janssen.

Yes, ask the experts!