How to find Angiogenesis-based doctors or financial alternatives for needed drugs for cancer treatment.

February 18, 2010 4:51 PM

Girlfriend with skin cancer looking for Angiogenesis-based doctor or financial alternatives for purchasing needed drugs.

My girlfriend has metasticized Merkle Cell Carcinoma.
She has been taking Paclitaxel and Carboplatin as her chemo treatment. Her recent scan has shown some tumors having grown and some having shrunk. With the support of her doctors, she would like to try Avastin and Abraxane. Her insurance underwrites it for some cancers but not her particular one. Genetech has so far declined to provide the drug because she is outside their protocols. She is looking for a doctor in Southern California or the Bay Area who practices angiogenesis-based medicine or what alternatives there are outside of insurance and her own pocket to purchase the Avastin and Abraxane.

posted by goalyeehah to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Best answer: Has she tried to join a clinical trial? Check clinicaltrials.gov for trials that she might be eligible for. I can't say if she's an appropriate candidate or not, but it looks like there's a trial recruiting right now to try avastin on many different kinds of cancer.
posted by pickypicky at 5:32 PM on February 18, 2010

Looking for a clinical trial is likely your best option. I am afraid it strikes me as unlikely for you to find many places eager to donate Avastin given it is, IIRC, one of the most expensive drugs out there right now. To the tune of $30k a month or something.
posted by Justinian at 5:42 PM on February 18, 2010

Clinical trials are a good way to get access to expensive drugs. Try to find a phase 2 or 3 trial-- you are actually going to get the drug that way, because they are studying sequencing and dosages rather than randomizing between actual drugs and placebos.
posted by pickypicky at 5:49 PM on February 18, 2010

Best answer: Forgive me but I don't really understand your question. She already has doctors that are willing to include Avastin in her regimen, so why is it that you want to find another doctor? Most any modern-day oncologists "practice angiogenesis-based medicine." It's not really its own subspecialized field beyond the extent that physicians who treat disease response of to Avastin should be prescribing it. Also note that Abraxane is a fancier reformulation of Paclitaxel, which isn't an angiogenic agent per se. Do you mean they support the use of Avastin in the context of a clinical trial but not an off-label use outside of that?

If what you are seeking is a "bleeding edge" second opinion you should head to any of the number of National Cancer Center Network sites or major academic centers in California. These include UCSF, Stanford, and City of Hope (which are the NCCN centers in the state), as well as places like UCLA and UCSD.

Current open trials that may apply to this case on clinicaltrials.gov include:

Everolimus and Vatalanib in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors, which may only be enrolling at Mayo;

Combination Chemotherapy and Bevacizumab in Treating Patients With Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors, which is a trial of Avastin+chemo specifically for neuroendocrine cancers of the skin, and just so happens to be sponsored at UCSF.
posted by drpynchon at 7:57 PM on February 18, 2010 [1 favorite]