And the narrator, Dr. Richard Furman, the head of the CLL and Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia program at Weill Medical College was not only there at the beginning, he was the investigator for these phase 1 trials for ibrutinib and idelalisib.
He tells of the broken promises of a prior generation of small molecules. He reminds of the bravery of the volunteers who entered the unknown world of these new drugs with little more than hope that these pills would be different than all the rest that preceded them. He points out how the amazing changes that lead to the record fast accrual for the follow-up phase 2 trials. He explains why the climbing lymphocyte count was not a big concern and how it is so different than the rising counts encountered with the tumor flare seen with lenalidomide.
So much has changed in the last few years. What a brave new world we have entered. A place chock full of both hope and unknowns.
This was filmed at ASH 2012 in December.
I have nearly caught up on all my other non CLL medical writing so I can soon turn my attention to more on non-chemo answers for CLL, but this interview should help those looking more than my musical interludes when they tune in on my CLL adventure.
Part 2 with Dr. Furman to follow, then a long interview with my friend, Dr. Adrian Wiestner.
And I will be going to ASCO in May in Chicago though at this point it is uncertain whether I will be bringing my video staff.
