Friday, March 26, 2021

One near miss

It’s an unadjudicated problem among stylists of the English language whether narrowly missing a target should be called a near miss or a near hit.  There are good reasons for either phrase.  Near miss is much more popular, but it could be argued that if the miss was near, the target was hit.  Near does, after all, modify something as coming close to happening.  Merriam Webster has an entire page on this question and the curious history behind near miss.  I’ve experienced three near misses myself recently.

Yesterday I finally called the organizers of the MEFOX study in Ulm.  Don’t worry if that doesn’t ring a bell.  The topic featured early in my blog.  Here’s a quick summary:  There is scientific evidence that the common opioid painkiller methadone might have a role to play in chemotherapy.  Papers describing results in mice and human cells were published years ago but never followed up with safety and efficacy studies.

In 2019, the University of Ulm where the initial research had been conducted obtained funding for a clinical study, specifically targeted towards colon cancer patients on their last legs.  It was supported to start around this time last year.  Patients could enroll only if they had climbed down the ladder of available therapeutic options in its entirety.  I was doing way too good back then to qualify.

Things are different now.  I’m at the bottom rung.  Below me is the abyss of unspeakable blackness.  Meanwhile, the expected starting date of the trial is now in the middle of April of this year.  Yesterday, I called and was happy to hear that (1) they are still recruiting patients and (2) I qualify, at first glance anyway.  I sent them a copy of my case history by email.

The trial would be quite a trial.  Ulm is around three to four hours away, depending on whether you drive or take the train.  Treatment would take one day every two weeks, with CT scans and blood work in between.  Methadone is self-applied, as drops, with a pipette, over a few days.  Naively, I thought I could just travel a day earlier and spend the night in a hotel.  This is impossible in Germany where all hospitality is currently closed.  With case numbers rising sharply, this is not bound to change either.

Then there’s the question of paying for the treatment.  With no big pharma supporting the trial, I’d need my Swiss health insurance to release money for treatment abroad.  They’re already getting nervous when you want to leave the kanton.  Many questions to answer, but I was getting excited.  An option is better than no option.  Now it turns out there’s no option after all.  Today, the leading physician wrote to say that I don’t qualify after all because of my allergy to oxaliplatin, a drug that will be part of the treatment.  Too much risk for them, I guess.  No hit on target for me.

To be continued.

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