Confirm low-dose olanzapine for appetite and weight in advanced cancer worldwide
An Indian trial found a cheap antipsychotic pill in very low dose improved appetite and weight gain in patients with advanced stomach, lung and pancreatic cancer. It needs confirming and adopting worldwide.
A randomised placebo-controlled trial from Tata Memorial (published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2023) found that 2.5 mg olanzapine daily improved weight gain and appetite in chemotherapy-naive patients with advanced gastric, lung and hepatopancreatobiliary cancers, an area where expensive investigational agents have repeatedly failed. Olanzapine costs cents and is already used for chemotherapy-induced nausea. The proposal is a multinational confirmatory trial with weight, appetite, quality of life and survival endpoints, coupled with a guideline and label strategy so the result reaches patients.
- No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs · Old, cheap drugs with anti-cancer signals never get the trials they need because no one profits from the result.
- Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient · Patients often die of wasting or cannot tolerate the doses that would work. Treating the patient, not just the tumour, lags far behind.
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not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaA cheap old tablet to restore appetite
Shares Low-dose olanzapine for cancer anorexia (Tata Memorial), Tata Memorial Centre, Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs.
- IdeaTreat cachexia as a disease: GDF-15 blockade plus anabolic and nutrition bundles
Shares Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- IdeaGet the one approved appetite drug licensed beyond a single country
Shares Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- IdeaCatch wasting early with a smart scale and a step counter
Shares Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- IdeaDedicated cohorts for patients with performance status 2 in first-line trials
Shares Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- IdeaSelect cachexia trial patients by the hormone driving their wasting
Shares Cachexia, toxicity and the limits of the patient, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.
- IdeaValidate low-cost metronomic oral regimens in phase 3 and carry them into guidelines
Shares Tata Memorial Centre, No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs.
- IdeaBlock the complement signal that recruits tumour-protecting cells
Shares No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Non-small-cell lung cancer.