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Anktiva and Pancan
A medication was recently approved by the FDA for bladder cancer. It was developed by ImmunityBio and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. He's the same doctor and business leader that developed Abraxane. He was also a pancreatic surgeon early in his career. So he's the real deal.
The medication is called Anktiva. Though only approved for bladder cancer, there are a number of trials taking place for other cancers including pancan.
Does anyone have any personal experience with the medication and pancan? It sure seems like it could be the next-line therapy.
Thanks,
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I searched it up. Anktiva is not yet approved to treat pancreatic tumors directly. Instead, it is being tested as a lymphocyte-stimulating agent to counteract treatment-induced immune collapse in advanced pancreatic cancer. Dr Soon-Shiong did develop Abraxane and he is clearly brilliant.
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2 ReactionsYes he is very smart and has an incredible passion to cure cancers and is a self-made millionaire that can afford to do.
Look up his podcast with Tucker Carlson. Very interesting if you have the time. I listened and immediately called his clinic. Unfortunately what he is doing would have required me to move to the west coast which I am not ready to do. But he is very interesting.
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2 Reactions@gamaryanne We wait for him to develop a cure which does not require us to move to the West Coast 🙂 I pray he lives long and continues his work!
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2 ReactionsAnktiva is available for some PC patients under the FDA's Expanded Access program. We're working through the process within Kaiser to convince them to provide the necessary documentation to ImmunityBio, Dr. Soon-Shiong's clinic, so that they can evaluate my mother as a possible candidate under the Expanded Access program. So far, we've been unsuccessful in finding the right group or people within Kaiser to help us. Mom's PC was found very early and was still at Stage 1B a few weeks ago. She is not a candidate for chemo or surgery because of her age and frailty. Her doctors and member services all say they are not allowed to help us. Their biggest concern is covering the costs. But, we're willing to pay out of pocket. We just want them to work with the clinic to provide the required documentation and releases. If anybody has had success with Kaiser and ImmunityBio, please let me know.
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1 ReactionI cannot believe that Kaiser has the right to withhold medical documents and records.
Can’t Dr Shiong’s clinic make a request with your Mother’s approval?
His work is very impressive.
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2 ReactionsWe can get the documents. All Mom's records are available on request. The challenge is the process required by the FDA's Expanded Access rules. From what we've discovered so far, to be considered, one has to have an unsolicited referral from an oncologist, who has determined that all other treatments have been considered, applied, and will not or did not work. Because of Mom's age, she is not a candidate for the traditional course of treatment, which is 3 months of chemo, surgery, and 3 more months of chemo. Her oncologists each said that any one of the 3 steps would likely kill her and they would not recommend the treatment. Not only would they not recommend it, they would not do it, even if Mom wanted to give it a try. Mom's care through Kaiser has been outstanding. All her caregivers have been engaging, compassionate, and have made a huge difference in this journey. We're now working the system to get them to cooperate with the clinic. We're making some progress on a few alternative paths. I'll keep this thread posted on our progress.