Dr. Matt Kalaycio on the Importance of GVHD Clinical Trials

Marrow Masters

English - June 22, 2023 10:15 - 28 minutes - 25.6 MB - ★★★★★ - 7 ratings
Medicine Health & Fitness Education bone marrow transplant stem cell transplant graft versus host disease caregivers cancer survivor patient cgvhd acute gvhd immune system Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: "Walking Miracle" and AML Survivor Rhonda Frederick Stewart

Next Episode: Four Time Transplant Survivor Jim Bond On Why It Was All Worth It

Dr. Matt Kalaycio is the Vice Chairman of the Taussig Cancer Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. He joins us today to talk about clinical trials - the hope they bring, the lives they save, and why they are so important in regards to Graft Versus Host Disease.

For example, the popular GVHD drugs Ruxolitinib, Ibrutinib, and Belumosudil They were found to be effective, thanks to clinical trials Dr. Kalaycio walks us through how that happened.

Clinical trials are often intimidating, or even frightening to patients. People are afraid of being a "guinea pig." Dr Kalaycio addressed this and goes through all the safeguards around clinical trials, as well as the three phases of clinical trials.

This may be hard to believe, but a long time ago, doctors would experiment on patients without their knowledge or consent. Thankfully those days are long behind us, and patients now give informed consent. Everything is explained to them, and all their questions are answered. Perhaps most importantly, the patient can opt out of the trial at any time for any reason.

Many GVHD patients are offered the chance to participate in a clinical trial. If you'd like to learn more, the first place to start is with your treatment team. Beyond that, you can also visit the clinical trials website below.

We close by asking Dr. Kalaycio about some of the clinical trials he's currently involved with, as well as what gives him hope going forward. He's been working with GVHD patients and their loved ones since 1992, and he's had a front row seat for just how far treatment has come. He is compassionate and empathetic and it shines through in this interview.

Clinical Trials Website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/

Cleveland Clinic Website: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/

Dr. Matt Kalaycio bio: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/staff/473-matt-kalaycio

Other Resources

National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.

nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/

nbmtLINK Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINK

nbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.

Thank you to this season's sponsors:

Supported by Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie Company (https://www.pharmacyclics.com/) and Janssen Biotech, Inc. (https://www.janssen.com/)

Incyte: https://www.incyte.com/