Xalkori "maintenance" - 1241507

Hi Sean. Welcome. Grace has just transferred it's entire site to a new home and we're all learning how to navigate here, and bugs are being addressed during this roll out period. I'm sure the faculty will be along soon to answer your question. Meanwhile, I just wanted to say congratulations on being NED! We love hearing that! The doctor's will be along soon to reply to your question.
Debra

Sean,

Agents like XALKORI (crizotinib) are meant to be taken in the setting of known advanced disease and then until the time of progression. You can say that it's leading to the potential development of progression, but it's also almost certainly actively suppressing the disease. While it may be possible to stop an agent like XALKORI or an EGFR inhibitor like Tarceva (erlotinib) or Iressa (gefitinib) after someone has achieved their best response, that isn't how they have been studied, and there isn't a lot of enthusiasm for stopping a treatment that is almost certainly the reason that the person is doing so well. There is even evidence that some people experience a rapid progression of their disease as a "rebound" effect after stopping the targeted therapy that has been very effective.

Please note that we're not going to keep this generic "ASK US" section, since that's pretty much a no-man's land for the forums, and instead will ask people to identify the most appropriate subject for their question.

-Dr. West

does your site deal with questions about cll and its treatment?

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bella

Hi bella,

Unfortunately, at this time GRACE does not have a faculty member who focuses on leukemias and lymphomas such as CLL.

JimC
Forum moderator