I've just read a really interesting paper on the use of these two drugs in combination. It was an American report, but when I searched it on UK sites, despite the good reviews it appears they are too expensive for UK use. Does anyone know if they have been used in combination with good results in the UK at any point?
LA
I'm on a clinical trial testing Rucaparib after conventional adjuvant chemotherapy. Arial 3.
Hi Annie, where is your trial? just wondered if they are still recruiting. The phase one they are offering at the christie means going every week day for injections.
love Francesca
Hi Francesca
My trial is a Phase III. Participants have to be platinum sensitive and their CA125 has to be normal after at least a third line of chemotherapy. I think once the trial is in full swing I just have to go in once every third week but every now and then I have to take the tablets in to hospital and take them in front of the trials nurse.
Will you have far to travel to the Christie every day? That sounds a lot of hospital visits to me but if you feel overall it's worth it then I'd imagine you'd get into the swing of them. What a shame you can't have them administered closer to your home.
When are you back from Spain? x x Annie
I am completely bewildered. I thought Arial 3 was rucaparib??? A different PARP inhibitor to olaparib. I hope you get fantastic results from the trial. Vx
Thanks VV! There was so much discussion as to which PARP trial I entered I've got thoroughly confused. I've amended the above to Rucaparib. I was told this is a stronger drug than Olaparib. Not sure what that is going to mean! xx
Can only be good news. Vx
Just hoping the side-effects aren't stronger as well! that's if I receive the trial drug. 2/3 of the whole group of 524 women across the globe will receive the Rucaparib.
I'll post the progress here on this forum. xxxx
Hello Lily-Anne
I read that Olaparib had been rejected by the Scottish Medicines Consortium for use in Scotland on grounds that the perceived health benefits did not justify the cost. This was in spite of support for its use from oncologists and the scientific evidence. As far as I know NICE have made the same decisions for south of the border. It seems to be available in France, Sweden and the Netherlands. I don't know anything about Cediranib I'm afraid
Beth
I have to say the thought of treatment in France appeals to me, they have much better figures than the UK. The report said that the combination of these drugs can add about 18 months to survival figures. I also read the Arial 3 trial, very interesting.
LA
Hi Lily-Anne,
I looked into having treatment abroad a while back. You are entitled to have treatment in another European country but only the treatment that you would have received in the UK.
Having said that I wonder whether the oncologists in the cancer centres in France would stick rigidly to the rules. I'm aware when patients are referred from Wales to England for treatment most receive only the treatment they would have received in Wales and this is billed to their Welsh health board. Some are lucky their oncologists 'turn a blind eye' and give them the same treatment as English patients.
Generally I think things are tightening up everywhere. As I understand it the Marsden used not to require endorsement from our Welsh health boards before a patient was referred to a clinical trial there - but that had changed by the time my oncologist tried to refer me to a clinical trial back in 2013. I wasn't allowed on the trial because there was 'a problem with my health board'.
Complex isn't it! xx Annie
Hi Beth,
It's not that the actual drugs are expensive as such. It's that it's deemed too expensive when weighted against age. In other words, the Government, through their agency NICE, make the drug seem expensive if the majority of users are older. I think it's a similar situation in Scotland. Xxx
Hi Beth. Im on Olaparib on Solo trial and have been since January 2014. I was also on Cedranib back in 2011 and got 18 months remission from it so maybe the combination would work . I have been told that the cost of Olaparib is currently just under 5k per month so the combined cost would be very high . Kathy x
hi Kathy, where is your trial? Just wondering if they are still rercruiting
all the best Francesca
Hi Francesca. It's at the Christies in Manchester. Best Wishes , Kathy.
Hi Kathy
Thats where I go and i have emailed the research nurse to see if I'm eligible for yours but I think my doctor checked and I'm only eligible for this phase 1 new drug which means going there every week day for injections, etc. Big commitment but hopefully worth it. Luckily I only live a few miles away in Stockport. Maybe I'll see you there
all the best
Francesca x
I was on the Compakt trial which combined Olaparib with an AKT inhibitor (a protein kinase inhibitor) . After two months on the trial my cancer reduced slightly but after four months my cancer had increased substantially so I came off the trial.. That is just my personal response. Hopefully others had better responses. On all the trials I have been on I have found response varies so much from individual to individual.
Best wishes
Sharon x
Probably not a helpful comment but... I have read that Astra Zenica who own Olaparib and charge such a ridiculous amount for it pay no UK tax despite huge profits and in 2013 took £5 mil in government subsidy for a research centre in the UK which they closed 5 months later. There is the smell of corruption and politics around this.
Indeed, that's the real story of "benefits Britain"..... stinks, doesn't it....
from the us here...big pharma contibutes massive amounts to our dysfunctional congress members. who in turn slavishly do its bidding. and here we all sit like birds on a wire...quite choiceless.
would add that cost constrains treatment in this country as well, in certain 3rd party payor situations.
as no doubt it does everywhere, unless one is independently wealthy.
or is it different in countries like france? and if so, how does the system afford treatment? or perhaps the numbers of those who might benefit are so low as to be inconsequential?
I thought this looked quite interesting too. There seems to be quite a lot of research with this drug in the US, although I think before paying for trials we should perhaps know if their ultimate cost is going to place them out of the hands of hope.
cancerresearchuk.org/about-...
LA
OLAPARIB 
OLAPARIB
Olaparib and Avastin
