
"I was delighted to take part in a clinical trial as it has the potential to really help others in the future.”
This trial aimed find out more about how the body absorbs and gets rid of a drug called panobinostat. It was for people with a solid tumour that had spread (advanced cancer). A is any type of cancer apart from
or
.
Panobinostat is a drug that blocks certain proteins (). Cells need these enzymes to grow and divide. Blocking them may stop cancer growing.
One of the important jobs that the liver does is to get rid of drugs from the body. But if you have , your liver may not be working very well. Doctors can measure how well the liver is working by doing blood tests called liver function tests.
Studying what happens to a drug in the body is called . This includes looking at how long the drug stays in the body and how the liver gets rid of it.
The aims of this trial were to
The study team found that it was safe to give panobinostat to people with mild to moderate liver problems.
25 people took part in this study. Of those, 15 had liver problems.
The researchers took blood samples from everyone before the first dose of panobinostat then every few hours after having the drug and a final sample after 96 hours.
The researchers looked at how long the drug stays in the body and how the liver gets rid of it. They found that people with mild to moderate liver problems had slightly higher levels of the drug in their blood samples than people who didn’t have liver problems. But having mild to moderate liver problems didn’t affect how the body absorbed the drug.
The main side effects were
These didn’t seem to be much worse in people with liver problems.
The trial team concluded that people with mild to moderate liver problems can safely have the same starting dose of panobinostat as people who don’t have liver problems as long as doctors keep a close eye on side effects and change the dose as necessary.
We have based this summary on information from the research team. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team who did the research. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Dr Sally Clive
Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC)
Novartis
Freephone 0808 800 4040
"I was delighted to take part in a clinical trial as it has the potential to really help others in the future.”