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Treatment/clinical trial options for desparate Ukrainian couple
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Treatment/clinical trial options for desparate Ukrainian couple

› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Treatment/clinical trial options for desparate Ukrainian couple

  • Post
    • June 8, 2017 at 2:27 pm
    magnus31
    Participant

      Hi all,

      I have recently acquainted a young Ukrainian couple whose husband is currently fighting against stage IV melanoma. As the Ukraine health system does not accommodate for any treatment or clinical trials for patients in this stage of the disease, the couple is now desperately looking for any sort of treatment option or clinical trial abroad which could accept them.

      Financing is an issue here as the couple woudn't be able to afford to bear the cost of current immunotherapy treatments like Ipi/Nivo/Pembro.

      Please all would you know whether skin cancer trials in the US, Canada or elsewhere are exclusively reserved for tax-paying nationals or whether any ongoing skin cancer trials would accept their participation?

      Any ideas warmly welcome at this point.

       

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    • Replies
        • June 8, 2017 at 3:27 pm
        geriakt
        Participant

          To shed some light on clinical trials in the USA. 

          I am on a Clinical trial for stage 3B melanoma. 50 weeks of immune theropy either IPI or NIVO. Currently I finished 34 chemo treatments and I am on surveillance for the next 3 years.

          To qualify for the trial one criteria was I had to have a qulified insurance even though the trial pays for much but not all of the treatment. You need to have insurance to cover costs if something goes wrong with the trial IE side effects. 

          This means for my trial as well as most trials in the USA you have to have private medical insurance to qualify. IE USA based insurance. USA based Medicad does not qualify for clinical trials. Canadian Nationalised insurance does not qualify. I would assume your Ukrainian patient would not qualify. 

          The National Institue of Health in Bethesda Maryland may be your only hope to enter a Clinical Trial in the USA so you may want to start there. NIH may not require medical insurance of any kind. Sometimes they even pay for travel and housing. 

          You may also want to contact the American Cancer Society for proper direction. They are very helpful.

          Tom 

            • June 11, 2017 at 11:58 am
            magnus31
            Participant

              Thank you Tom for this, very useful in order to understand how clinical trials work in the US.

            • June 8, 2017 at 6:37 pm
            Patrisa
            Participant

              Dear Magnus,

              you shoud post also to melanomainternational.org, Catherine Poole will know if anyone close to Ukraine is doing something worth looking into…

              Good luck!

              Patrisa

                • June 11, 2017 at 11:57 am
                magnus31
                Participant

                  Thank you Patrisa, will post to melanomeinternational.org which I did not know about.

                • June 9, 2017 at 4:37 am
                TP35
                Participant
                  Dear Magnus

                  Maybe you could try Poland? As far as I am concerned immunotherapy with ipi/nivo/pebro has been approved in Poland. The best place to start in my opinion is prof. Piotr Rutkowski from Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland. He is the best melanoma specialist in country. Write him an email ([email protected]). Usually he respond very quickly.

                    • June 11, 2017 at 11:56 am
                    magnus31
                    Participant

                      Thank you TP! Will get in touch with your contact in Poland for more info. Best.

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