Iressa?

[Z_Pacific]

Hi All - Greetings from Guam,

As a result of my decision to forego chemo my family back in the “States” recommended that I look into Iressa as an alternative. Can anyone give me some insight into this treatment? I am going to talk with my doc later today (it’s 6:24 am Friday here) but would appreciate some insight that anyone who is using it may be able to offer.

Thanks for your support and God Bless,

Howard

[dadstimeon]

Hi Howard,

I just started Iressa for maintenance. To early to tell one way or the other. It does have good success for some. There are other members who are on it and are doing well. Ry's husband comes to mind for one. It comes in pill form and taken once a day. Are some side effects. But again to early for me to tell how it will effect me. Also I'm not positive but I believe it is not used as a first line (At least that was in my case) of treatment. Maybe someone else can verify that. Well worth looking into. Hope this helps. Peace, take care and God Bless.

http://www.iressa-us.com/content/patient/about (About Iressa)

http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/i ... efault.htm (Iressa)

Rich

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[Snowflake]

Howard,

I was enrolled in a trial for Iressa as suppressive therapy. I had surgery and my tumor was removed, this was a trial to see if a year of Iressa kept any tumor from appearing. I took it for about two months and my oncologist took me off it due to side effects that not everyone gets from the medication. Trials are by far cheaper than picking it up at the pharmacy...

Becky

[Ry]

Sorry I am late on this Howard. My husband has been on Iressa now for quite awhile and is doing very well on it. He started it while it was still in trial and has remained on it. He was very fortunate to be in the group that it not only works for but he had some shrinkage in the begining which only happens in about 14 % of the cases. It has kept the cancer from growing, his last 2 CT scans have been stable. The side effects he has are the rash (you call that a rash!) which is actually more like acne and the diarhea. Please feel free to PM me with any questions you have. It has been a miracle for us and if you start it, I hope it is the same for you.

All the best~

Rochelle

[norme]

Hi Howard,

I to am under the impression that Iressa is not the first battle with cancer. Everyone I know of is either taking it while they are in remission or it is the last hope as is the case with my husband. He cannot have anymore chemo because his condition is to weak. He started the Iressa last Thursday and I understand it takes a few months to see if it is doing any good.

The cost factor without insurance to help pay is about $4000 for 3 months supply. We have prescription insurance with our secondary insurance and our cost for 3 months is $35. Big difference.

Ck with your dr, see what he says and if you are doing nothing else, go for it.....like the dr said to my Buddy, you have nothing to lose at this point.

[christymike]

Read my post about Iressa in the GOOD NEWS forum.

Christy

[Lisa O]

Hello,

I started Iressa as a first line therapy within a clinical trial. Once Iressa was approved in the US I started taking it as a prescription. I have very few side affects - just rashes and some nausea. I take it at 4:00 so any fatigue hits while I would be sleeping anyway. It has kept me stable 15 months. If you decide to try it I wish you the very best of luck.

Lisa

[Mark - North Calif]

Hi Howard,

I've been taking Irissa for about 6 months without bad side effects, just the usual diarhea and acne, certainly side effiects I can live with. I'm happy to say that my tumors are reducing in size. Whether that's due to Irissa or something else is unclear....this is human medicine after all. My Onc did notice that the tumors started reducing in size after the usual dose of Carboplatin and Gemzar. So, my suggestion to you is to consider the 'normal' course of chemo treatment first. BTW, my Onc gave me about 6 months to live (Stage IV disease) in Nov of '02. So, I'm way ahead of the game .

Best Regards & Good Luck,

Mark

[Guest]

Hi Howard,

My husband was on Iressa for just less than 3 months. When scans revealed infiltrates in his good lung they stopped the Iressa. He was finally diagnosed with "non-specific interstitial pneumonia" which is an inflammation. The "non-specific" part means they don't know for sure how he got this but this was a possible side-effect of Iressa. My husband is now is a worse condition than when he had active tumor in his right lung. I don't mean to scare you but I just thought I should make you aware of this during your decision making process. I know there are others on the board who have good results with Iressa.

Take care,

Chris