Keytruda

[Pyro]

The drs will monitor you each time for pneumonitis, colitis, blood tests for your thyroid, probably a few more too.

Thank you! Which Facebook page? I was on Colon Cancer support, but there really isn’t a whole lot of “support”, a lot of questions, no answers, and too many people researching the oddest treatments you’ve ever heard of.

[Stewsbetty]

The drs will monitor you each time for pneumonitis, colitis, blood tests for your thyroid, probably a few more too.

Thank you! Which Facebook page? I was on Colon Cancer support, but there really isn’t a whole lot of “support”, a lot of questions, no answers, and too many people researching the oddest treatments you’ve ever heard of.

I am on Colontown. It is a very large group for colorectal cancer patients and caregivers. There are muliple “neighbourhoods for different sunsets of dxs and interests. There is a neighbourhood for MSI h patient trials and there is a fair amount of chatter on there about treatment and possible reactions. Look into joining. It might be helpful.
Beth

[Pyro]

Signing up now! Got a call from the doctors office, no Keytruda on Monday, they don’t have any!? Never heard that one, delay one week.

[Pyro]

Sooooo, keytruda. Not FDA approved for colon cancer, therefore insurance will not cover it (Medicare/TRICARE), didn’t see that here anywhere. Merk is covering the drug, my Onc office is comping the treatment itself (insurance won’t pay for that either). A few more things than just needing keytruda have to come together, just a heads up.

[Stewsbetty]

Sooooo, keytruda. Not FDA approved for colon cancer, therefore insurance will not cover it (Medicare/TRICARE), didn’t see that here anywhere. Merk is covering the drug, my Onc office is comping the treatment itself (insurance won’t pay for that either). A few more things than just needing keytruda have to come together, just a heads up.

Oh yikes! I am guessing that you aren’t MSI high then? I am pretty sure it is approved for MSI h CRC. Merck is covering my drug as it isn’t approved in Canada at the moment. Sorry you are having to deal with this.
Beth

[boxhill]

Pyro, Keytruda is FDA approved for any cancer that is MSI-H, including CRC. My insurance covers it. Right now, there is a big push in CRC oncology to see if they can extend the benefits of immunotherapy to people who are MSS, especially since that represents the vast majority of patients. They are looking at whether it will help MSS people who have a higher genetic mutation burden in their tumor. (To put this in perspective, I am MSI-H, and my mutation level is something like 56. I'm in the top 4% or so. They are trying Keytruda with MSS tumors that are around level 12, which is high for MSS.)

Looking at your treatment, I am guessing that you are KRAS wildtype, since you've had the drugs that go with that.

If you would add your genetic info to your sig, it would help people understand your situation and make more useful comments.

Good luck getting the keytruda, and I hope it helps you. I believe there is also research being done around whether using two immunotherapies instead of a single agent will improve its efficacy for more patients. (Opdivo+Yervoy being a prominent example already in use.)

https://www.curetoday.com/articles/drug ... tal-cancer

[Pyro]

Thanks! I have all my genetic stuff from MD Anderson but it doesn’t spell out very well my mutations, I’ll ask the Onc. What I do know, is I’m getting Keytruda based off tumor mutation burden, my test equaled a 12. So I guess, we are using this a bit off label since I think I’m MSS, that would make sense. The word “trial” never came up, but I suppose that’s what it is!