Focusing On Patients

Molecular Medicine
(continued)

After witnessing Gilson’s dramatic recovery, Gandara right away went to work convincing SWOG to launch a clinical trial of Iressa specifically for BAC patients. Gandara heads the lung committee for SWOG, which is comprised of 4,000 leading doctors at 283 institutions throughout the United States and Canada.

Today the BAC trial — the only one of its kind in the nation — is under way at 100 centers in 29 states, including six in Northern California. Gandara is the principal investigator for this study at both the UC Davis Cancer Center and the Veterans Administration Northern California Health Care System.

Carolyn Whitman, 79, was one of the first BAC patients in Northern California to benefit from Gilson’s gamble. A retired Napa Valley real estate broker living in Redding, Whitman was nearing the end of a seven-year battle with the rare lung cancer. Last April she was tethered to an oxygen tank, coughing constantly. Her weight, normally 125 pounds, hit 95. “I really didn’t think I was going to live past Christmas,” she said.

Whitman’s Redding oncologist, Tom Drakes, referred her to hospice care. But Drakes also arranged for her to participate in a trial he had heard about on one of his regular trips to UC Davis Cancer Center, where he is a part-time faculty member.

Like Gilson, Whitman responded almost immediately to Iressa. Today she is off oxygen and feeling healthier than she has in years. Lung x-rays confirm her cancer is in retreat. Instead of saying their goodbyes, Whitman and her husband, Ethen, a retired flight instructor, are making plans to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

Said Drakes: “It is the most dramatic thing I’ve seen in 22 years of practicing medicine. It’s close to a miracle.”

Donna Jensen

Diagnosis:

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Treatment:

Rituximah clinical trial

Status:

In Remission