Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Hepatitis C Community
This forum is for questions about medical issues and research aspects of Hepatitis C such as, questions about being newly diagnosed, questions about current treatments, information and participation in discussions about research studies and clinical trials related to Hepatitis. If you would like to communicate with other people who have been touched by Hepatitis, please visit our new Hepatitis Social/Living with Hepatitis forum
|
start treatment now or wait for protease trials/treatment?
by moopertan, Jul 06, 2007 12:00AM
i'm a treatment naive male with gen. 1A, my HCV viral count is 1.2 million, in relatively good health (i also take milk thistle every day) other than being about 20 lbs. overweight.
i recently didn't make the cut (past psych history reasons) for the ACHIEVE-1 study, so my doctor says if i want to go ahead and start the regular peg-intron/ribavirin treatment, that's my decision.
HOWEVER, i was informed by the study nurse about the VX 950 and Schering SCH 503034 protease studies they expect coming down the pike within about 6 months or so. of course, they told me there's (obviously) no gurantee if i wait i will make it into the studies, but said also that if these new drugs get FDA approval they could be on the market within 2-3 years.
so, as a newbie to this forum, i thought i would throw the question out there to see what kind of opinions i get. i should also say that i will be talking to my doctor about this next week, but i was curious what others thought as maybe some have gone through trying to make the same decisions, etc.
should i wait to see what comes up, perhaps as much as 2 or 3 years (if i didn't make it into the study) or should i just go ahead and start the normal course of treatment anyway?
there's a few factors flying around in my head: the numbers of the data coming out of these protease trials vs. numbers for someone like me with 1A doing the standard tx course, etc. side effects, etc, etc...
i also apparently stand a better chance of getting into the vertex study than the schering study for reasons as i stated above, having to do with a past (a long time ago) psych history i.e. depression (apparently schering is more strict about psych screening guidlines than vertex, or so i have heard)
anyhoo, would love to hear what people think, thanks!
-mooper
i recently didn't make the cut (past psych history reasons) for the ACHIEVE-1 study, so my doctor says if i want to go ahead and start the regular peg-intron/ribavirin treatment, that's my decision.
HOWEVER, i was informed by the study nurse about the VX 950 and Schering SCH 503034 protease studies they expect coming down the pike within about 6 months or so. of course, they told me there's (obviously) no gurantee if i wait i will make it into the studies, but said also that if these new drugs get FDA approval they could be on the market within 2-3 years.
so, as a newbie to this forum, i thought i would throw the question out there to see what kind of opinions i get. i should also say that i will be talking to my doctor about this next week, but i was curious what others thought as maybe some have gone through trying to make the same decisions, etc.
should i wait to see what comes up, perhaps as much as 2 or 3 years (if i didn't make it into the study) or should i just go ahead and start the normal course of treatment anyway?
there's a few factors flying around in my head: the numbers of the data coming out of these protease trials vs. numbers for someone like me with 1A doing the standard tx course, etc. side effects, etc, etc...
i also apparently stand a better chance of getting into the vertex study than the schering study for reasons as i stated above, having to do with a past (a long time ago) psych history i.e. depression (apparently schering is more strict about psych screening guidlines than vertex, or so i have heard)
anyhoo, would love to hear what people think, thanks!
-mooper
Post Comment
So much depends on the state of your liver. Did you get a biopsy? If you are a stage one or two you may have a lot of room to wait. However, there are other complelling reasons to treat even if your biopsy is good. You will hear both sides of the coin here.
How old are you?
What are your biopsy results?
Do you have any symptoms?
Do you have good insurance?
Are you at a position at work that you can "coast" at for awhile if you have to?
What are the demands at home (young children, etc)?
Do you want to Have children in the near future?
I am one of the people here that thinks you should rid yourself of the virus while you are young, healthy, and your liver is in good shape. But the treatment is exhausting, grueling and can be quite a challenge so it is not an easy decision
frijole
if you start now you may be finishing up about the time the new drugs are approved. if you have little liver damage and no symptoms why not wait?
this a very slow moving disease for most.
ps, viral load has very little affect on progression.
as for the record and to answer some questions,
further info:
-41 years old
-diagnosed in '97 (10 years ago) (if i had to guess when i actually contracted the disease i'd put my money on and say there's a 98% chance it was in the fall of 1995.)
-my last biopsy (1 1/2 yrs ago) showed that i have "upper stage one/lower stage two" scarring (my doc said i'm kind of on a borderline area between the two)
-i do have pretty good insurance
-i don't feel like i have any symptoms per se, though maybe some fatigue now and again, slight pain that is pretty infrequent, and maybe some "mood stability" issues (i.e. easy irritability at times), but then again, those could be from other things as well (except for the infrequent pain)
and in terms of work, homelife, etc.- i work at a job part-time that is pretty laid back and i don't have any kids (i do realize that i'm kind of in an ideal position to undergo the standard course of treatment- however that doesn't make the decision any easier as i do still wonder about waiting and holding on for the newer drugs.)
looks like i'll be talking to my doc about this stuff on Thursday, but in the meantime i appreciate all the feedback from you fine folks, thanks again! this forum rules!
danke schon,
-mooper