Mr. Lin, who is 60 years old, was diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in 2015. After a palliative tumor resection at a top hospital in China, he took three kinds of standard therapy for GIST, and his disease progressed. With the introduction of professors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Mr. Lin decided to seek treatment advice from top doctors in the United States and contacted Medebound HEALTH. Finally, with the help of professors in Harvard Medical Center, He was lucky to participate in the clinical trial of an innovative drug for GIST via the help of Medebound HEALTH.
Mr. Lin, who is 60 years old, was diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in 2015 with multiple metastases to the liver and abdominal cavity.
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) are a kind of Tumors originating in Gastrointestinal mesenchymal tissue, accounting for most Gastrointestinal mesenchymal Tumors.
In the United States, the estimated annual incidence of GIST is between three and seven people per million. Europe, South Korea, and Hong Kong report higher rates, around 15-20 per million. It is generally believed that the incidence rate in the Chinese population is about 1-2 per 100,000.
The majority of GISTs (60%) are seen in the stomach, usually in the fundus. The percentages of GISTs found in other portions of the GI tract are reported as 30% in the jejunum and ileum, 5% in the duodenum, 4% in the colorectum, and rarely in the esophagus and appendix.
GIST is malignant in 20 to 30 percent of patients, and about 11 to 47 percent of patients have metastases at the first visit, mainly in the liver and abdomen.
As gastrointestinal stromal tumors are prone to recurrence, repeated treatment is often required, and the number of operations for individual patients is as high as ten times.
Therefore, after diagnosing this type of troubling sarcoma, Mr. Lin underwent palliative tumor resection based on the advice of Chinese doctors (palliative surgery is to relieve symptoms rather than radical surgery, which can relieve patients' pain improve patients' quality of life).
Imatinib was taken after surgery, and the disease progressed.
When sunitinib is retaken, drug resistance and disease progression occured;
Regorafenib was treated for two months, and PET/CT was performed in September 2018, indicating disease progression.
Regogfinib has been the latest drug for the standard treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors in China. Mr. Lin's condition was still not under control.
However, Mr. Lin was not defeated by all these. From diagnosis to treatment, Mr. Lin always cooperated with the doctor positively and maintained an optimistic attitude. After drug resistance occurred, he still sought the latest treatment.
Mr. Lin's hospital, Peking union medical college hospital, is the number one hospital in China. The attending physician to Mr. Lin also showed that the best treatment method is to use Regogfinib, but his condition was in progress. He wanted to know the world-class and the latest method for treating gastrointestinal stromal tumor Medebound HEALTH became his choice andMr. Lin decided to have a try.
After learning about Mr. Lin's current condition, Medebound HEALTH immediately made an appointment with a seasoned physician, the director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard University, a top doctor in the field of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and immediately scheduled a video consult withhim five days later. This physician graduated from Sandford University and is a full professor at Harvard University and has more than 300 publications in the soft tissue sarcoma area, including GIST disease.
Founded in 1947, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research institution in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute, and one of the 15 clinical affiliates and research institutes of Harvard Medical School.
The institute is a world leader in cancer gene-targeting therapy, cancer immunotherapy, cancer endocrine therapy, cancer biotherapy, and cancer vaccines, with more than 700 clinical trials available every year.. Its milestones include the development of the first and only biomarker test for ovarian cancer, CA-125; Pioneering new ways to assess and treat prostate cancer; Developing the most advanced tumor surgery techniques in brain surgery; Selective internal radiotherapy of the liver was the first.
Since the medical doctor team from Medebound HEALTH had organized and translated Mr. Lin's medical records and sent them to the Harvard professor in the early stage, Mr. Lin was very interactive. He actively participated in the discussion on the day of the video consultation and the outcome was remarkable.
On September 26, 2018, Harvard professor through video consultation with Peking Union Medical College Hospital, answered all the questions one by one for Mr. Lin and told Mr. Lin, he currently already used the latest and most advanced drugs in the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Still, for Mr. Lin, a message like this is beneficial to him.
The good news is that there are two drugs currently in clinical trials for GIST: Blueprint Pharmaceuticals' AVAPRITINIB and Deciphera's Deciphera, both of which have proven to be effective in treating advanced GIST. Deciphera's new drug was currently in phase III clinical trials.
Drug clinical trials are divided into phases I, II, III, and IV. Phase III clinical trials are confirmatory. Its purpose is to verify further the therapeutic effect and safety of drugs for targeted indication,and to evaluate the relationship between benefits and risks, and ultimately provide a sufficient basis for the review of the drug registration application. Thus, Phase III and IV trials are the last hope for many "incurable" patients; And drugs in clinical trials are generally provided to patients free of charge.
However the caveat is many clinical trials in the US are not open to foreign citizens.
The Harvard professor said that participating in a clinical trial was the best option for Mr. Lin now. Mr. Lin immediately expressed his willingness to participate in the clinical trial and hoped he could receive more information. Besides, since he has family members in Boston, joining in the clinical trial in his family's city would be better. If not, he could also cooperate to travel to where the clinical trial is carried out.
On September 29, 2018, three days after the video consultation, Mr. Lin received good news from the United States . After multiple times of the efforts by both Medebound HEALTH and Harvard professor, Mr. Lin had been approved to participate in the trial as he met all the criteria.
After hearing the news, not only Mr. Lin and his family were very excited, but the staff of Medebound HEALTH cheered for him. Seeing Mr. Lin's smiling face, we felt that all the efforts were worth it. After the video consultation, Mr. Lin received the full report which included specific information about the clinical trial prepared for him by Medebound HEALTH.
Screenshot of video consultation report
On October 10, 2018, Mr. Lin arrived in the United States and successfully enrolled in the clinical trial after multiple examinations. At this point, Mr. Lin finally felt relieved, only two weeks after the video consultation he remarked wholeheartedly in his testimonial that “ Medebound HEALTH’s assistance is irreplaceable and invaluable and it saves my life! ”
In that short time, professors from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and the staff from Medebound Health made a huge effort to make such achievement.
On October 25, 1:30 PM EST, The Medebound Health received a thank you message from Mr. Lin, and was informed that he had obtained the new drug in Boston, United States, and started to take it.
Although Mr. Lin's Road to seek medical treatment was difficult and tortuous, he never gave up. Even others were deeply affected by this spirit. When the disease strikes, we should try our best to fight for every possible hope to live without regret.
Named patient program
Waiting for a drug to be approved can be everlasting for a patient running out of hope. Some patients with life-threatening diseases cannot afford to wait.
To satisfy an influx of unsolicited patient requests from patients outside the US and make its FDA-approved product available to patients in countries where it is not licensed. We set up a named patient access program for patients with this need. In almost all countries, any patient (the Named Patient) with a life-threatening, long-lasting, or seriously debilitating illness has the right to access and purchase medicines outside his or her own country that are potentially life-saving or able to improve quality of life. Every country has its own specific rules and regulations surrounding the access and import of innovative medications, and there are many different programs and regulations set up for this purpose. These include the Named Patient Import for the small amount that is only for personal use purposes.For more information about this service, please visit: www.medeboundHEALTH.com/pharma
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