Melanoma Patients Australia

With Leg 1 of the 11-12 Clipper Round the World race done and dusted, it's a good time to reflect on the race so far from a 'Team BAMO' perspective. As you may have heard, Barry's team has just won race 2 (Madeira to Rio), which is a fantastic effort on their behalf. The computer on Gold Coast Australia was out of action during the initial Southampton - Madeira sector, so they were 'incommunicado' for a while. We quickly learnt that communication between the yachts and the rest of the world is also hampered by the lack of time for the crew to engage in this kind of 'luxury' plus their focus and dedication to the competitive aspects of the race.

To quote BAMO himself in one of his initial emails "Things are not exactly conducive to sending long emails but maybe I can give you some snippets now again ...with a 20 knot wind blowing us along at about 10 knots, it (sending emails) is a bit like trying to type in a washing machine".

Back on dry land, many of us remained glued to the Race Viewer (on the Clipper website) and watched with excitement and pride as Gold Coast Australia won both Race 1 and 2. The Clipper Facebook pages have provided many smiles as BAMO's 'chief blogger' Jan Dennis and I have traded comments and jibes with the family of other crew members. We have done our best to show our support and maintain good sportsmanship at the same time (ie. not rub it in).

As far as our fundraising for Melanoma Patients Australia is concerned, we are doing really well, but have slowed down a lot since the race started. The total on the Everyday Hero site is currently $7,420.00. I know some of you are planning to make a donation for each completed leg, so hopefully that total will climb again over the next few days.

Thanks again for all your fantastic support - if you're not already doing so, can I suggest you follow the race via the Clipper website - www.clipperroundtheworld.com and via Barry's blog http://roundtheworldrace.blogspot.com/ - it's incredibly exciting stuff!

The information below was received from the Melanoma Independent Community Advisory Board.

Table on the available anti-PD-1 and anti-PDL-1 clinical trials for advanced melanoma patients

Dear Melanoma Patients,

We need access to the latest clinical trial information, because for many of us, clinical trials offer the best treatment options.

Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a remarkable landmark in the immunological treatment of advanced melanoma, but it will only positively affect a minority of us. Other very promising sister immunomodulatory drugs are also in development, particularly those directed at the PD pathway : anti-PD-1 and anti-PDL-1. However, their progress through clinical trials has often been hard to follow.

We have therefore compiled the table on the available anti-PD-1 and anti-PDL-1 clinical trials for advanced melanoma patients. Be aware, however, that the listings of available seats are overstated in many instances. Some seats have been filled, and some become available sporadically, so you will need to contact the centers directly. You can follow the links for each trial to the clinicaltrials.gov listings to obtain more complete information on the trials, including:

telephone and email contacts at participating centers
protocol schedules
complete criteria for inclusion and exclusion, and more.

We believe this information is accurate as of July, 2011, and will appreciate suggestions on corrections and additions.

Patricia Garcia-Prieto (Patient Advocate, founder of M-ICAB; Europe)& Jonathan Friedlaender (MIF Board Member abd FDA patient representative)

To follow the links to the table please go through the link below: