Duration of taking Iressa

jhwshome · New User Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

Hi all,
My mum (aged 67) was diagnosed with lung cancer about 2.5 years ago. She underwent operation and chemo (6+ months) to treat it. Recently in Jan this year, the cancer recurred. Our oncologist recommended her to take Iressa.

The results were very positive, as my mum responded well to the treatment and today there is little/no sign of the cancer, i.e. her lungs are clear, and cancer markers are within range, albeit on the high side.

My question is this:
As most will know, Iressa is very expensive, and my mum has been on this for almost 7 months. The oncologist says that my mum has to take Iressa indefinitely which will no doubt be a considerable financial constraint. However, he knows of people who have stopped taking Iressa after varying periods of time - 6mths, 9mths and have no relapse. But he refuses to get into a discussion on options for my mum - e.g. stopping after a certain period, or reduce the dosage (once every two days). He insists that we continue with Iressa for as long as we can Sad

Do the people on this forum have any experience/stories about patients stopping Iressa after a period of time, what was the duration and what were the outcomes?

Thanks for any replies, as it will help us considerably in planning the steps forward.

Thanks.

jhwshome · New User Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 2

Hi all,
Posted this a couple of weeks back, but no replies.

Not many people on this forum taking Iressa?

lapsaria · Regular Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 11

Hi,

I'm glad to hear that your mother responded so well to Iressa. I know this is an older post and I hope your mother is still doign well. Unfortunately, I don't have any answers to your question of coming off Iressa, but as my dad is starting to take Iressa, I was hoping you could answer some of mine. Could you tell me how long it took for them to determine that the results of Iressa were positive? My dad has been on it for 10 days and they're doing another scan to see the tumors have shrunk, but I don't know if 10 days is actually long enough to see any results.

From another site, I found that Astra Zeneca has been known to help out patients who struggle with prescription costs. So perhaps you could look into that.

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