magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Andrea Sloan's situation raises the question: When should patients get access to experimental drugs?

(CNN) -- Andrea Sloan is dying of ovarian cancer. Having exhausted all standard treatment options, her doctors say her best hope now is a new class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors.
Sloan says there are doses of BMN 673 sitting on shelves in the same hospital where she's seeking treatment: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Sloan is a 45 year-old attorney in Austin, Texas, who has ovarian cancer.
But she's not getting the treatment because the company is refusing to give it to her. That's because this drug she wants is still in clinical trials, and the company says hasn't been proven effective.
And her doctor supports her.
She has the help of a PR firm, working pro bono, to bring attention to her case, and a change.org petition for her cause has collected more than 150,000 supporters. It will likely be years before BMN 673 is on the market, but Andrea says she does not have that long to wait.

magicray: This article hit home for me. My beautiful wife, Lynn died from esophageal cancer last November at the age of 56. The link is for access to the petition if any UHHers would care to sign it. Thank you.

http://www.change.org/petitions/biomarin-pharmaceutical-give-andrea-sloan-andi-sloan-access-to-the-cancer-drug-that-could-save-her-life

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

In 1978 at age 49 Mom had a radical mastcotemy done on 1 breast,in 2011 at age 82 she had the other breast removed.
She is 1 of the lucky ones to be a 35 yr survivor of breast cancer.
Condolances to you for the loss of your loving wife .

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

i'm sorry for your loss. she was much too young to had died.
i've also signed the petition.

magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Thank you and I'm so glad your mother won her fight. My doctor with 40 years of practice told me he's never seen so many young people with terminal illnesses. So sad. Only the good die young. Take care.

dooragdragon Loc: Alma , Arkansas

Thank you,just last year a close freind lost her 7 yr old sister (1 month after her 7th birthday) to brain cancer, way to young to be having that bastard diease called cancer.

magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Colo....I appreciate your kind words and support. Andrea needs this hope. Such a lovely, smart young girl with everything to live for. Thanks for caring as I know you do. Peace.

jdeanb Loc: Texas / central

I also am a patient at MD Anderson and on a clinical study since Feb.2012. I am actually taking 2 different ones .One I take every day and the other for 21 days then stop for 7 days then another 21 days starts over. One is furnished by them another is shipped to me every 28 days. Have to keep a dairy each day and have blood work every 2 weeks. I am told that all this is showing promise but of course can not be made available for general use until the FDA approves.
I don't think it is M D Anderson that is keeping it from her but the FDA. You would not believe the hoops that I jump thru each month to get the med that is shipped to me. I am talking about the same hoops with 3 different people each time before it can be shipped all required by the FDA.

So sorry about your lose and certainly what is Happening with Andrea.

wrr Loc: SEK

Not to be the devils advocate on this...but wouldn't you hate to be the one at the FDA that signed off on a new drug before it was actually ready for prime time...? The checks and measures a new drug goes through has to be for good reason...and how many times have we seen some drug get approved only to find out years later that it wasn't so good after all, that people died needlessly.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

A devil's advocate can be a valuable addition to most conversations. If only the FDA were the guardian of our health and welfare, as originally designed. It has become more of a partisan, extortionist roadblock to progress.
Given the success rate of conventional cancer "cures" can we really say they are beyond their experimental stages?
And this is the FDA that allows Coca-Cola and Pepsico to administer artificial sweeteners (aspartame) that enter our bodies and turn to formaldehyde. Some people consume enough diet sodas to become embalmed before they're even dead!
I'll even suggest if there were enough profit in it, the FDA/AMA would allow your doctor to operate on you with a Skil-Saw. Like most government agencies, the FDA has long since lost its original design in favor of a "better" path down $$ Street.
If a product is far enough along to be in a labeled box on a shelf in a hospital, the majority of its testing is already behind it.