DRZ

Our intrepid West Coast reporter has pointed out a new clinical trial is recruiting WMers in Canada!  Although to take advantage of it, you have to be near, or be able to travel to, Vancouver. This trial, NCT05952037 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05952037), is using a new BCL-2 inhibitor, Sonrotoclax, and it is strictly for WM patients.  The trial is world-wide, but is recruiting in just the one location in Canada.  According to the clinicaltrials.gov website, that Canadian location is in North Vancouver, at the Lions Gate Hospital Chemotherapy Clinic. Interestingly, the trial has several "arms" running in parallel.  One of those arms is for [...]

The WMFC is recognizing and celebrating World Awareness Day for WM! That's one week from today, on Dr. Jan Gösta Waldenström's birthday -- April 17th. This is a worldwide event to raise the awareness of WM. Naturally we do not need to raise awareness of WM among you, our members, as you are already far too aware of this disease. But you can help raise awareness of the disease among everyone else. If you have social media accounts, please post one of the following, or something along these lines, on April 17th: Have you ever heard of #WaldenstromsMacroglobulinemia (#WM)? Can you [...]

The WMFC has been closely following the progress of the BRAWM trial because it is the only Canadian clinical treatment trial strictly for WM patients.   As Principal Investigator Dr. Neil Berinstein reported in the 2023 ASH conference, “initial clinical results show that this treatment induces a high percentage of CR + VGPRs”. It has come to our attention that there are only 6 spots left in this 59-patient Canadian WM trial.  Access for most Canadians is not an issue, as there are 9 (nine!) trial locations across Canada: Halifax, Laval, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.  As mentioned [...]

An oncology DAN is someone who investigates and coordinates funding for a patient’s prescribed drug therapy. The oncology DAN examines all possible options for funding and takes some of the burden off patients in coordinating this part of their care.  The focus of the oncology Drug Access Navigator is to coordinate funding for those drugs not funded through the hospital formulary.  (And remember, every province has a different formulary, listing drugs that it covers.) Each DAN stays up to date on drug plan submission processes, temporary drug release programs, and financial assistance options.  Their role is to keep both the patient [...]