A Family's Plight To Fight Pancreatic Cancer
The Loughman Family Has Been Fighting For A New Drug To Be Released
August 21, 2008
1 Comments
By: MyBayCity Staff
An Indiana family was hoping for a miracle for their mother-
in the form of obtaining access to a revolutionary new treatment that
holds the potential to cure both Hollywood legend, Patrick Swayze, and
their beloved mother and wife from the ravages of pancreatic cancer -
one of the most deadly forms of cancer.
On Monday, March 24, 2008 the Loughman family of Indianapolis, IN held
a news conference at which they launched a public relations
campaign asking the public to help them secure access of the revolutionary
new treatment for pancreatic cancer, TNFerade, for patients including
their mother/wife - Connie; Mr. Swayze; and others suffering from the
disease. (Connie Loughman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer August
2007, and Patrick Swayze was diagnosed January 2008).
As part of their public campaign, the Loughman family has launched this
website:
Help Save Our Mother
See a clip from a Nationwide news source on their own investigation of this family and the drug TNFerade:
News Clip
Well-meaning, but misguided, regulations have tied the hands of the FDA
(Food & Drug Administration) and the biotechnology firm, Genvec, from
providing access to the only drug shown to cure the disease.
GenVec, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutic drugs and vaccines. GenVec's lead product, TNFerade[TM], is currently in a pivotal clinical study (PACT) in locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
Additional clinical trials are in progress in rectal cancer, head and neck cancer, and melanoma. GenVec also uses its proprietary adenovector technology to develop vaccines for infectious diseases including HIV, malaria, foot-and-mouth disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza.
Pancreatic cancer is the same disease that took the life of operatic
tenor, Luciano Pavarotti in September 2007. Actor Patrick Swayze
recently announced to the nation that he too is battling pancreatic cancer.
90% of patients die within 1-year of being diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer. 95% are dead within 5-years of diagnosis.
The Loughman family hoped that nationwide public exposure would convince the FDA
and biotechnology firm, Genvec, to cut through the red tape and grant
access of the gene therapy TNFerade to Mrs. Loughman. TNFerade has been
shown in clinical trials to have cured patients with pancreatic cancer.
During the course of MyBayCity's research on this family and the drug TNFerade, we recently received the following email from Mrs. Loughman's daughter, Jackie.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jackie Loughman
To: Marlo Leveling - O.J. Advertising, Inc.
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 11:35 AM
Subject: RE: Article
Hi Marlo,
Thank you for your offer to help. We lost my mother July 15th and I'm still in shock so I'm not sure how much help I will be. Her death has been even more painful to us because the cancer didn't kill her, her death was due to complications from the chemo cocktail she had just started. We knew it was a pretty harsh treatment and never would have agreed to it since, in a best case scenario, it could only extend her life for a few more months but we had hoped that would be long enough for TNFerade to receive (at least) conditional approval.
I realize our story will help other patients so feel free to run it --and if you have any questions you can email me and I will try to answer them the best I can but I just don't have the heart to fight anymore. I'm sorry.
Jackie Loughman
Sadly, the drug TNFerade was not available to Connie Loughman in time to save her life.
GenVec spokesman Margorie Gruff informed MyBayCity on Sunday evening that while this particular drug has proven in clinical trials to not only "treat" but in some instances, "cure" Pancreatic, head and neck and esophageal cancers, it has not been made available to the general public.
Mark Thornton, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Product Development for GenVec did not respond to MyBayCity inquiries on this particular case.
Additional information about GenVec is available at
GenVec
TNFerade study (Phase III) information can be found here:
TNFerade
"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers!
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Jackie-Loughman says:
On August 25, 2008
at 10:39 AM
Marlo:
Thank you for the thoughtful note and your efforts to honor my mom and help those fighting this absolutely evil disease. I have noticed a significant increase in traffic to her website, so hopefully newly diagnosed patient will find the most effect treatment available for this disease while they are still eligible for the trial.
Again, thank you for sharing our story.
Jackie
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