Lapatinib With Anything Beside Xeloda?

[Lida]

Hi her-2 friends,
My onc was talking about perhaps putting me on Lapatinib with Gemzar or with Abraxane? She says it would be a "novel" combination -perhaps the cancer would be tricked by these new combos. Has anyone else tried lapatinib with chemo other than Xeloda? I really appreciate hearing from you. Lida

[hutchibk]

what else have you been on? have you already had Xeloda? these are called "novel-strategies/therapies" in treatment of Her2 MBS - but I have heard that some folks run up against insurance issues if they don't follow the normal channels first (e.g. Tykerb w/Xeloda) , so if you haven't already had Xeloda, you might have trouble with coverage. I could be wrong, though.

[Bill]

Hi Lida! My wife was the first to be on Lapatinib and Taxol in early clinical trials, along with Herceptin, and it worked well for her. Hope this helps, Bill

[Lolly]

Hi Lida; I was on Abraxane with Tykerb for 4 months last year, and it worked well for 3 months but by the 4th month we had to change strategies again. However, I'm dealing with skin metastisis in the scar line and radiated tissue, and the chemo has a hard time getting to the cancer. It may work wonders for you, and certainly worth a try. I didn't experience too much in the way of side effects, a bit tired but my counts stayed steady. Had "Tykerb" rash and low grade fever but all in all very tolerable.
Insurance was a problem for me, as my ins. considered Tykerb a "specialty drug" and it was the highest tier of copay until I reached my max out-of-pocket, which took two months, then ins. paid all but 5%, so then it was ok. The fact that I was getting it with Abraxane instead of Xeloda wasn't an issue.
Good luck!

<3 Lolly

[Stephanie]

My mom is starting Taxol/Tykerb next week. She's on Medicare--don't think she's had any problems with insurance coverage other than that Medicare treats Tykerb as a prescription pill instead of a chemo drug, and she has to pay a very high percentage of it until she maxes out-of-pocket.

[Vanessa]

I am on tykerb, herceptin and abraxane. I will be having a brain MRI and petscan next week, so I will probably know the results the week after. I was already on abraxane and herceptin when my doctor added the tykerb. I have not had any trouble having the insurance pay for it (knock on wood).

[jones7676]

Tykerb and Abraxane have worked wonders for me.....Pet scan results very positive - best I've had since moving to stage IV. Now hoping for good MRI of brain in March.