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Has anyone taken the targeted therapy osimertinib (Tagrisso)?
Lung Cancer | Last Active: Jun 16 6:00pm | Replies (139)Comment receiving replies
@maggieoakdavis, I've replied privately, but others may benefit from my response. When there has already been metastasis, the concern is that there are still cancer cells out there that are too small to be detected. Tagrisso is prescribed to kill those cells. In addition, chemotherapy does not cross the blood/brain barrier, while Tagrisso does.
My lung cancer might not have metastasized to my brain if I'd been put on Tagrisso after my lobectomy. However, in 2018, Tagrisso had not yet been approved as a first-line treatment. Your husband is proof that the policy has changed!
Replies to "@maggieoakdavis, I've replied privately, but others may benefit from my response. When there has already been..."
actually, if this is any help, tagrisso will not kill small cells that are undetected. what tagrisso does, is it renders the protein (egfr) where it will not produce further cancer cells. two years ago, my doctor couldn't give me much information on this drug. for the first around 6 months on tagrisso, my brain cancer tumors were shrinking like crazy. then it stopped completely. the tumors wouldn't shrink any further. so, i am still riddled with about 20 tumors, but they are all measured in mm, not cm and they, so far, after two years are still not growing. i always use the word 'so far' because one cannot estimate when tagrisso will completely stop working and the tumors will start growing again. however, the good news, that was explained to me by my oncologist, is that there is a targeted therapy in clinical trial that will basically target every protein mutation associated with nsclc and hopefully with fewer side effects. teresa
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Thank you @flusshund, it is encouraging that the treatments and protocols are evolving. We will keep the faith!