Back from Denver National Jewish.....(Kalydeco trial)

triples15

Super Moderator
Hey Everyone!

I know there were a few people interested, so I decided to start my own thread about my Denver experience. :)

Sooo.... I made it to Denver on Tuesday to be screened for the Kalydeco trial. For those who don't know, it is the trial for residual function mutations. In order to get in, one must meet at least one of 3 criteria: A sweat test under 80, pancreatic sufficient, or diagnosed at or after age 12. We know that I don't meet the second two, so I can only get in if my sweat test comes in at or under 80. It was 83 when I was diagnosed in 1981, so it's really questionable. However, they seemed optimistic that I would get in.

So my sweat test was an adventure in and of itself. ;) After stimulating the sweat and waiting the 30 mins, I did not have enough sweat for the test! So the research coordinator told me she was going to have me run/walk a few laps in the hall to sweat more. I honestly thought she was kidding and laughed. Nope, she was serious as a heart attack. So off I went. Upon returning, I had sweat a little more, but still not enough. She collected that sweat, and then had to do a second test to try to get more. This time, she and the doctor had me go outside and make a lap around the hospital in the 90 degree heat. Still didn't sweat much, but in the end she thinks it is probably enough for them to test. If we went through all that only to find out it's not enough sweat to be tested I will crap! My feet are blistered and sore from jogging in sandals! Who would of known I needed tennis shoes and a sports bra for the screening!!! LOL.

The trial has already be underway for a while, in fact, some participants are already at or nearing the end. I'm not sure the reason, but they decided to open it up to a handful more participants. This trial is more involved than any trials I have done in the past. I do PFTs and pulse oximetry at home every morning and every night. The results are sent to Vertex through a smart phone supplied by them. I also wear a pedometer type thing 24 hours a day. Interesting stuff. So they've already got me started with those things, even though we don't yet know whether or not I am in.

Well, I guess that's about it! I will update you all as to whether or not I get in!

Take Care,

Autumn 32 w/CF

PS. A few points in case anyone is interested... my residual function mutation is S945L. Also, I have mentioned in the past that I am mostly pancreatic sufficient, so you may be wondering why I say that we know I don't get in on that criteria. Well, my fecal elastase number is very low, which does not reflect my need for few to no enzymes. They think that the low elastase numbers are a result of having pancreatitis many times. They said that for whatever reason they are seeing low numbers in people who have had pancreatitis. Interesting.
 
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Deb

Guest
Hope you are accepted into the study Autumn. I just completed that study and was very pleased with my results. I am now in the next phase of the study. The PFTs, oximetry and fitbit daily can be a burden but it eventually becomes routine. All the trips to Denver can be exhausting but maybe you are closer than me.
NJH and the research coordinators there are great. Good luck
 

triples15

Super Moderator
Hope you are accepted into the study Autumn. I just completed that study and was very pleased with my results. I am now in the next phase of the study. The PFTs, oximetry and fitbit daily can be a burden but it eventually becomes routine. All the trips to Denver can be exhausting but maybe you are closer than me.
NJH and the research coordinators there are great. Good luck

Hi Deb! I'm glad you we were able to do the study and had good results. I am very hopeful that I get in and that I will have good results as well!!

You're right, so far the PFTs, oximetry, and fitbit are a little overwhelming and a there's bit of a learning curve. Like you said, I can see that it will get easier pretty quickly as it becomes routine. It's well worth it to be in the study, especially now that they've added the second arm!

I am fairly close (relatively speaking), about a 7 hour drive or an hour flight. We drove for the screening and took my 22 month old daughter. It was morel like 8 hours after stopping a few times to let her get out and run around/eat/etc. I think if I get in the study I will do a combo of driving/flying. Only because I really hate to fly. :(

You're right, everyone was really nice there. They are all really hopefully I get in the study as well. We won't know until next week when my sweat test results are in.

Thanks for responding!!
 

triples15

Super Moderator
What type of consent form did they ask you to sign?

Hey Stranger,

Really standard consent form. I think you might be asking specifically about confidentiality?

It says I cannot discuss the study in a public places, but can discuss with family/friends etc. Therefore, if/when I start the study I won't be able to talk about how I'm doing with the drug on the forums. I plan on just letting everyone know if I get in. ;)
 

AttyMom

New member
How did you get involved with the study? I had contacted them a couple of times, but never heard back.
 
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stranger

Guest
Thx for the update. Best of luck. Eat lots of avocado!
 

LittleLab4CF

Super Moderator
I go to NJH's adult CF clinic athough most of my appointments these days are with one of NJH's GI doctors. Mid-month I have a CF clinic appointment and my plan is to explore Kalydeco for myself in addition to the usual clinic evaluation. I hope I can share some information about what is going on and for whom in terms of treatments and trials with genetic CF moderator drugs.

I can just imagine the hallway you were running up and down, you weren't the first to be seen sweating for sickness in and around NJH. I realize the frustration and angst of questionable tests like a sweat chloride. I did something very similar in Boston some years ago, duckwalking downtown Boston trying to do something that at the time didn't come easily, sweat!! I too found it as much amusing as annoying, however, for you it holds a higher stake.

Never thought I would say this, but, Worst of Luck with your nex sweat test! LOL


LL
 

jricci

Super Moderator
I was supposed to participate in the Denver trial back in January. Unfortunately things didn't work out because I would not have been able to take hypertonic saline during the trial. HTS does wonders for me, so I had to back out of study. They may have modified the study so that you can still take HTS since I was trying to enroll. The study nurse mentioned that they were trying to make that happen. I had the weigh the pros and cons. I may have chosen to take the chance with stopping HTS if I had a different mutation. My mutations are R334W and DDF508. R334W is not expected to respond to Kalydeco according to in vivo studies. It is categorized as a severe conductance mutation. However, I do have residual function as I am pancreatic sufficient. I qualified for the study because my elastase result came back within normal range.

Just curious- what does the second part of the Denver study involve?

I will hopefully participate in another study at my clinic involving ivacaftor and VX-809. The study may start as early as this fall, so I'm very excited. It will be a study in people 12 and older with one copy heterozygous for the F508del on one mutation and a second mutation that is not expected to respond to either Ivacaftor or VX-809 alone. I'm not sure what mutations are included. I just know that R334W is included. Good luck to all those involved with the Denver trial and triples15 I hope your sweat test is high enough for you to qualify.
 
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welshwitch

Guest
Thanks for keeping us updated, Autumn! I actually have a CF appointment today and am going to take a stab at getting a prescription for Kalydeco....I don't have anything to lose, and am going to try different things to hopefully get to try it.
 

triples15

Super Moderator
I go to NJH's adult CF clinic athough most of my appointments these days are with one of NJH's GI doctors. Mid-month I have a CF clinic appointment and my plan is to explore Kalydeco for myself in addition to the usual clinic evaluation. I hope I can share some information about what is going on and for whom in terms of treatments and trials with genetic CF moderator drugs.

I can just imagine the hallway you were running up and down, you weren't the first to be seen sweating for sickness in and around NJH. I realize the frustration and angst of questionable tests like a sweat chloride. I did something very similar in Boston some years ago, duckwalking downtown Boston trying to do something that at the time didn't come easily, sweat!! I too found it as much amusing as annoying, however, for you it holds a higher stake.

Never thought I would say this, but, Worst of Luck with your nex sweat test! LOL


LL

Hahaha!Glad to hear I'm not alone in my quest for sweat..

I imagine I was quite the sight. I was actually more worried about the sound of my flip-flop sandals clip clopping loudly as I trucked along. I worried people in the offices I was passing would be getting annoyed. I really thought about taking them off, but am too much of a germaphobe to go barefoot in a hospital! :)

Let us know what your doc says after your clinic appt. Do you see Dr. Nick? He is the principal investigator for this study so that is who I met, but I assume that NJ has more than one CF doc.

Thanks for your reply.

Autumn
 

triples15

Super Moderator
Thanks for keeping us updated, Autumn! I actually have a CF appointment today and am going to take a stab at getting a prescription for Kalydeco....I don't have anything to lose, and am going to try different things to hopefully get to try it.

You're welcome!

What did you find out at your clinic appointment today? I tried hard to get my doc to prescribe it and provided lots of evidence that suggests it works very well with my mutation, including that my mutation is listed in the patent. He still would not do it. Ugh. I hope you had better luck than me. ;)
 

triples15

Super Moderator
I was supposed to participate in the Denver trial back in January. Unfortunately things didn't work out because I would not have been able to take hypertonic saline during the trial. HTS does wonders for me, so I had to back out of study. They may have modified the study so that you can still take HTS since I was trying to enroll. The study nurse mentioned that they were trying to make that happen. I had the weigh the pros and cons. I may have chosen to take the chance with stopping HTS if I had a different mutation. My mutations are R334W and DDF508. R334W is not expected to respond to Kalydeco according to in vivo studies. It is categorized as a severe conductance mutation. However, I do have residual function as I am pancreatic sufficient. I qualified for the study because my elastase result came back within normal range.

Just curious- what does the second part of the Denver study involve?

I will hopefully participate in another study at my clinic involving ivacaftor and VX-809. The study may start as early as this fall, so I'm very excited. It will be a study in people 12 and older with one copy heterozygous for the F508del on one mutation and a second mutation that is not expected to respond to either Ivacaftor or VX-809 alone. I'm not sure what mutations are included. I just know that R334W is included. Good luck to all those involved with the Denver trial and triples15 I hope your sweat test is high enough for you to qualify.

Hi jricci!

I was originally supposed to go to be screened back in Jan/Feb also. But before I could get there I got a nasty exacerbation that went on forever. By the time I finished IVs and got my lung function back to baseline the study was full. Flash forward to a few weeks ago when they notified me that they were enrolling a few more people. Yay!

The requirement to stop hypertonic saline is still there, unfortunately. I plan on switching from hypertonic back to mucomyst during the study. For me, I have always thought mucomyst works just as well or better than HTS, so it shouldn't be an issue. The only problem with mucomyst is that there has been a national shortage going on and I have only recently been able to fill it. So if they would be unable to get it during the study, there might be an issue. The other thing they mentioned is that a lot of people are switching to twice daily pulmozyme during the study. If I couldn't get mucomyst, I would try that and hope it sufficed.

I certainly understand the decision you made, especially since it your mutation hasn't been shown to respond to Kalydeco. My mutation has been shown to respond even better than G551D in the in vitro studies. I know that anything can happen, but it makes me hopeful it will work well for me, and worth any risk that stopping HTS poses.

The second arm of the study, which was added since I was originally supposed to be screened, is 2 year open label treatment!! So that's beyond exciting. Makes me that much more hopeful that I get into the study. Soo much is riding on that darn sweat test! ;)

I really hope you are able to get into the ivacaftor/809 study!

Thanks and take care,

Autumn
 

triples15

Super Moderator
How did you get involved with the study? I had contacted them a couple of times, but never heard back.

I emailed the coordinator back in December of last year. We have been corresponding back and forth since.

I'm sorry they never responded to you! That's a bummer. It initially took her a long time to get back to me, but eventually she did.
 
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welshwitch

Guest
I had a resident physician instead of my normal doc so it just didn't seem the right time or place....also, let's be honest, I chickened out :) Will get up the guts again to be assertive and ASK in 3 months with my normal doc who knows my history :)
 
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welshwitch

Guest
BUT as a side note: my regular doc says I am doing so well that she is usually hesitant to ever prescribe extra meds. SO, I am already anticipating her saying no....
 

LittleLab4CF

Super Moderator
Triples15,

Yes, Dr. Nick is my CF specialist. I am not certain but possibly he was born at NJH. His young face bertays the years he has been a CF specialist and Head of their Adult CF Clinic. Last time I saw him he had just become the Principal Investigator for a DF508 moderator trial*. Being a geneticist, the good doctor and I can enjoy a little shop talk when I go in for a clinic visit so hopefully I can gather salient information for everybody.

LL

* This was 2 years ago, probably not the same trial you have interest in.
 

triples15

Super Moderator
Hey everyone.....

A bummer of an update. I was notified today that I didn't make the cut. :/ My sweat chloride came back at 88 and 92.

I'm pretty bummed about it, but at least I know I did everything I could to try to get in. Maybe I'll be able to get into to another one. In the meantime I'll just keep plugging along trying to stay as healthy as possible! The study coordinator did mention that she thinks it's likely that the Kalydeco label will be expanded to include residual function mutations such as mine in the next year or so. So that would be AWESOME!

Thanks again everyone for your comments and support!!

Autumn 32 w/CF
 
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welshwitch

Guest
Sorry, Autumn that really sucks. You did your best. Thanks for trying, for all of us. And great news about the residual mutations!!! :)
 

jricci

Super Moderator
So sorry Autumn. I know how disappointed you must be. Make sure you ask the nurse involved with clinical trials at your clinic to notify you as soon as there is a new vertex study that is enrolling. The clinicaltrials.gov site isn't always up to date. I'll be sure to post if I learn of any up and coming studies.
 
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