The NET/ PRRT Trial
Patients with advanced NET that has reached the liver may have new hope on the horizon.
The ongoing PRRT (Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy) trial in Texas that began in September 2010 had focussed one way of attacking NETs. But the group has now gained FDA approval to try intra-hepatic artery administration under an amendment granted by the FDA.
The first patient for this will be treated August 15–less than two weeks from now–in Houston, TX.
PRRT in a nutshell
PRRT is a radiation-based treatment for NET cancer that has been used in Europe for many years. It is now available in Australia, India, and Singapore. But the FDA has not yet approved the technique for use in the US. Many patients have gone to Europe from the US on their own dime–US insurance companies do not cover the procedure–to get the treatment. The Texas trial is the first of its kind in the US and is being conducted by Excel Diagnostics. Four other organizations–Baylor College of Medicine, St Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, and the RITA Foundation, all located in Houston and BioSynthema in St. Louis, Missouri–are also involved in the trial.
The study uses Lutetium-177 as its radiation source in combination with Octreotate, a somastatin analog.
The method is generally only used on NETs that have become resistant to other treatments.
More effective
The doctor running the trial, Ebrahim S. Delpassand, MD, said he expects this form of PRRT to be four to five times more effective than intravenous injections. He called the event, “an exciting milestone in the fight against neuroendocrine cancers.”
Two other radionuclides have been used in Europe. One proved relatively ineffective and has been largely discontinued. The other stays in the tissue longer and is more toxic to the kidneys and bone marrow.
Europeans have been working with RPPT for the last 17 years. Results have been good with few side effects.
US trails Europe
The US has been slow to adopt the procedure, however.
For US patients, the beginning of the PRRT trial in September of 2010 was the first hope the treatment would become broadly available in the US. FDA approval, however, is likely still several years away. That means for many with NET who cannot get into the trial that they will continue to have to go to Europe and pay for it out of their own pockets if they reach the point RPPT is their only option.
More information on the trial is available from project clinical coordinator Susan Cork. She can be reached at 713-341-3202 or by e-mail at scork@exceldiagnostics.com.
Marathon Walk Update
We are about $100 short of reaching $2500 for our Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk effort. I want to reach that level by midnight tonight. We raised nearly $1600 this week. I hope to match that number next week, which would put us at just over $4000 with just under four weeks between us and the Walk.
All the money we raise will go to the Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as will all the money raised by our joint Caring for Carcinoid Walking with Jane team.
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Remember, you can now follow Walking with Jane on both Twitter and Facebook. Often we announce news about NET cancer there before it gets here.
