Abatacept to Golimumab pt 5

Ok, quick update. In this case, it looks as if my initial treatment in part 2 of this trial was most likely placebo.

Things have been deteriorating since my last post and have become really bad. A flexi-sig today confirmed the massive degradation of my colon.

We are very sure the initial treatment in part 1 of the trial was drug due to the massive improvement, but sadly, to enter part 2 you get re-randomised.

Ok, well now that we know that part 2 is not working, we have made a request to be re-randomised to "some" level of the drug. Any level should be more effective then salt water.

I get my next sub-dermal injection on Thursday. Have a lot of hopes pinned on this, so I darned well hope it works!

So long as the request is approved, I will defiantly get either 50mL or 100mL of drug.

Just a quick update. The current randomization of 50 or 100mL of drug was injected yesterday morning. Now I just have to hold out until it starts to kick in. Things have degraded pretty badly and I'm currently sitting between 15 and 22 BMs per 24 hr period.

ETA - 13 days and counting down...

sending you my best wishes... also noticed you're using garlic capsules-- those destroyed me when I was on them, so just in case you want to start elminating stuff, that would be a good thing to start. Turmeric is MUCH better IMO.

best!

ComedyDork - The mab set of drugs are all monoclonal antibody's used to inhibit the action of the pro-inflammatory signalling protein TNF-Alpha.

Remicade (Infleximab) was the first one to be approved for use by the FDA and was engineered as a chimeric TNF-Alpha inhibitor using both human and mouse protein sequences.

Humira (Adalimumab) came along after this and does the same thing, but it is constructed from a fully human monoclonal antibody. No mouse, and as such it causes fewer side effects and the chances of your body producing antibodies to it are much reduced.

And now there's Golimumab. This drug is Centocor's answer to Humira. Humira was created by their competitor Abbott Labs. So Golimumab does about the same thing again, is purely human but uses newer learning with regard to building artificial proteins to act on the body. My little brother does this stuff and he seems very impressed by the way it has been engineered. Hence why I am on this one.

And then there is Abatacept which is a completely different line of drug. It works by affecting the way the body signals T-Cells by interfering with the co-stimulation required to actually switch the T-Cell on, though my understanding of this drug is otherwise rather limited.

ComedyDork - Yes, thats right.

When your body produces antibodies to Remicade, those antibodies are specific to that particular protein. If you switch to Humira, it is a different protein and as such, not affected by the Remicade antibodies.

There have been a few reports I have read on the net suggesting that patients that do not respond well to Remicade often have a good run with Humira.

You need to check the area you are in, and then check all the hospitals within that area to see if a hospital is running that trial. Not every hospital runs trials.