Phase III Rituximab Trial - News

That's 2,200 words, which is a big read for a lot of PWME. The gist seems to be that in the light of the null results from the Norwegian rtx trial, IiME won't be doing a rtx trial and has about £350,000 remaining in its rtx pot, after having spent some of it on B-cell work at UCL. That pot will now be spent on other biomedical research, as yet unspecified. But, given that some of that appears to have been pledges for the rtx trial, it's not clear to me how much of that £350,000 pot is actual cash and whether any pledges might now be withdrawn.

The relevant bit is right at the bottom:

IiME said:
Of the £520,000 raised or pledged for the rituximab trial and associated B-cell research £60,000 was spent on the preliminary B-cell study, and £110,000 was given to the follow-on B-cell research which was performed by Dr Jo Cambridge and PhD student Fane Mensah and involved collaboration with the Norwegian Haukeland researchers.
An additional £9,000 was also given to fund a student participating in the research and assisting the UCL team for six months.

In total £179,000 has been allocated to UCL for research over the period of 2013 – 2018.

What remains from the raised/pledged funds is the original £350,000 estimate for the rituximab trial that had been set by our advisor, plus further funds that have since been raised.
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Hi, I heard a rumor, that the Rituximab trial failed only because they run out of money. So they had to cut the planned doses in half and this is responsible for the 0 effect if compared to the placebo group.
Is there any sound base to this?

I apologize, if this topic was already covered.
 
cyclamen said:
Hi, I heard a rumor, that the Rituximab trial failed only because they run out of money. So they had to cut the planned doses in half and this is responsible for the 0 effect if compared to the placebo group.
Is there any sound base to this?

I apologize, if this topic was already covered.
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Where did you hear that? It sounds unlikely. Trials don't usually 'run out of money', because you ask for however much you need to do the trial upfront.
 
adambeyoncelowe said:
Where did you hear that? It sounds unlikely. Trials don't usually 'run out of money', because you ask for however much you need to do the trial upfront.
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Thank you for answering.
A rumor between people with ME in a Facebook group. Haven’t you heard it before?

I thought so too, but before stepping in I want to be sure.
 
cyclamen said:
Hi, I heard a rumor, that the Rituximab trial failed only because they run out of money. So they had to cut the planned doses in half and this is responsible for the 0 effect if compared to the placebo group.
Is there any sound base to this?

I apologize, if this topic was already covered.
Click to expand...
I think this so unlikely that you can safely dismiss this rumor as rubbish.....
 
Trials secure funding before starting. If they had run out of money they would have applied or appealed for more.
It sounds very like some people are trying to avoid having to let go of hope, which is understandable but we really need to accept that the trial team have been honest and displayed consistent integrity.
 
cyclamen said:
Hi, I heard a rumor, that the Rituximab trial failed only because they run out of money. So they had to cut the planned doses in half and this is responsible for the 0 effect if compared to the placebo group.
Is there any sound base to this?
Click to expand...

IF there were any basis to this rumor the researchers would have violated many ethical and scientific norms, as well as having questionable financial planning. In such a (theoretical) case we would do well to steer clear of those involved. However, these researchers have been forthcoming about the results of their study and that is laudable.
We all want results that benefit patients. The study results indicate that Rituxan isn't effective for most patients. While that may be difficult to accept, it is worth keeping in mind that having honest and thorough researchers on our side is to our benefit (in the long run).
 
Denise said:
IF there were any basis to this rumor the researchers would have violated many ethical and scientific norms, as well as having questionable financial planning. In such a (theoretical) case we would do well to steer clear of those involved. However, these researchers have been forthcoming about the results of their study and that is laudable.
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I suspect rumours like these are started to "allay" disappointment and latch on to false hope.
 
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Denise said:
IF there were any basis to this rumor the researchers would have violated many ethical and scientific norms, as well as having questionable financial planning. In such a (theoretical) case we would do well to steer clear of those involved. However, these researchers have been forthcoming about the results of their study and that is laudable.
We all want results that benefit patients. The study results indicate that Rituxan isn't effective for most patients. While that may be difficult to accept, it is worth keeping in mind that having honest and thorough researchers on our side is to our benefit (in the long run).
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We still learn things from failed trials too. Well done research pushes us forward whatever the result.
 
Little Bluestem said:
I recall reading that Thomas Edison once said that he knew {some large number} ways not to make a light bulb. :emoji_bulb:
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There are a lot of variations on this, including, "I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work." It's unclear if he actually said this, though.

During Edison's life, however, a colleague quoted him as responding to a question about a lack of results with,"‘Results!' Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work."

It's a sentiment about persistence that he expressed in a variety of ways, such as, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
 
any updates from our Norwegian members about when the study will be published, and then the Cyclophosphamide one would be due too? Thanks. (I know, I assume that because you are norwegian, you should be able to know... :laugh: )
 
Milo said:
any updates from our Norwegian members about when the study will be published, and then the Cyclophosphamide one would be due too? Thanks. (I know, I assume that because you are norwegian, you should be able to know... :laugh: )
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Øystein Fluge will have a lecture at the upcoming ME-symposium at Stanford - this can be streamed live.
People from his research team will also have lectures at two ME conferences in Sweden in October, also this will be available for streaming (but the lectures will probably be in Norwegian).

I hope we'll learn more about RituxME and CycloME then :)
 
The research team has just received more funds to continue their work.
More about that here: https://www.s4me.info/threads/news-from-scandinavia.647/page-16#post-104057

In a news article from the foundation who has given the funds, it says that detailed results from RituxME and CycloME are expected to be published in international journals during this autumn.

https://kavlifondet.no/en/2018/09/press-release-the-kavli-trust-renews-its-support-for-me-research-at-haukeland-university-hospital/

Edit to add: Seems the English version of the article is a bit shorter than the original version and that the information about the publications of RituxME and CycloME are only in the Norwegian one.
 
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