8 Week Update: John & Marian

John and Marian started out in different Phase One CAL-101 clinical trials. John's trial was CAL-101 as single agent, for patients previously treated and either relapsed or refractory to treatment. Marian's trial was CAL-101 in combination with Rituxan, for older, untreated patients. Each of those trials consisted of twelve 28-day cycles of treatment. John's; oral CAL-101 alone. Marian's; oral CAL-101 plus weekly Rituxan infusions for the first eight weeks. John completed his first twelve cycles in April of 2011. Marian completed her first twelve cycles in August of 2011. And now they are in the same extended phase study of CAL-101, which they will remain in as long as the drug continues to work for them (or until the drug becomes FDA approved for CLL). They each take a capsule morning and night. John takes 50 mg. Marian takes100 mg.

Their appointments were not in sync previously. But we now have them going on the same day every eight weeks (which is really great for me since I go with both of them). And yesterday was the day.

Fortunately, there is nothing to report other than how well they both are doing!
And here are their numbers:

John:
WBC      7.39
ALC       1.51
NEUT     4.08
RBC       4.67
HGB       16.1
HCT        47.3
PLT         244

Marian:
WBC       11.0
ALC        4.56
NEUT     5.28
RBC        5.19
HGB       13.8
HCT        44.2
PLT         183

Both John and Marian had a slight increase in their white count. But the increase is in their neutrophils, not their lymphocytes, which is a positive. Everything looks strong and stable. Even Marian's red counts are very good this time (they have been slightly low at times).

I've been blogging about their status for quite some time. So anyone who is interested in previous information or what their status was prior to CAL-101: all you have to do is use the search bar or look in my archived posts.