CPI-0610

                      Well, not a memorable name, that, but hopefully a memorable and successful clinical trial. The study protocol just changed and the dosage increased. Funny thing: the drug is so new the manufacturers haven’t started making higher dose capsules (25 mg is the higest), so David will be taking 12 capsules of unusual size every morning.

            A not-so-funny thing: here’s the warning in the description: “In case of contact with the powder: wash skin immediately with soap and copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes. If in eyes, rinse with copious amounts of water for at least 15 minutes.”

Here’s the study description of the drug:

CPI-0610 is a small molecule inhibitor of a group of proteins called BET proteins. By blocking BET proteins from binding to certain cancer-causing genes, CPI-0610 may result in these genes being deactivated (switched off). CPI-0610 has shown anti-tumor activity in previous laboratory studies.

(By the way, technically, individual leukemic blood cells are ‘tumors’. The name isn’t exclusive to solid masses.)

            The cycles are 21 days long. He takes the capsules for two weeks, then has a week off (of pill taking; he’ll still visit clinic twice a week). In this first cycle, he’ll have his blood drawn on Day 15 through 19. (Actually, he gets Sunday off.)

Today, Day One, we’ve spent the whole day at the clinic, from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. There have been blood draws, after the first daily dose, at ½, 1, 1 ½, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 hours and EKGs (electrocardiogram, which measures electrical activity of the heart) at 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours. The portable EKG machine comes right to the room, so we’ve stayed in room 138 all day. Actually, midday I took the T to Harvard station and walked to the Cambridge Public Library to pick up a score of the Brahms’ German Requiem. We’re attending a concert on April 11^th and I want to learn the music better. I then walked down Broadway from the library to Kendall (the MIT stop). I was going to walk across the Longfellow Bridge, but it started to rain, so I bailed and took the T across the Charles River.

Tomorrow, Day Two, we’ll come in the morning for a blood draw at the 24 hour mark (plus or minus 3 hours, a comfortable window).

            From MGH we’ll drive to Logan airport and pick up Annie at noon. We’ll spend the day with her. Saturday Jim and I fly to Chicago and Annie and David drive to New York City to visit R’el, Peter, Xiomara, and Andrew. David gets a reprieve and doesn’t have to come back to clinic until Tuesday.