Before you read this post: I’m about to weave a long story that might take 20 – 30 minutes to read.  I start with recent good news before walking us back to 1953 and some phenomenal science that followed to allow this good news.  Next, I add a ‘crash course’ that covers the steps from drug discovery and development through to clinical trials, regulatory submission and approval to commercial marketing.  I’ll gloss over some things to simplify, but I do cover a lot, so read on at your own discretion. Some good news On June 12, 2024, I joined a group of patients in getting early access to a new medication not yet approved anywhere but submitted to multiple health agencies for anticipated regulatory decision in August.  It might sound familiar because I wrote about the February 20, 2024 regulatory submission in an earlier post .  After pre-clinical work and results from Phase I and II trials, efficacy results from the Phase III ‘Indigo’ Clinical Trial showed tha...

May is Brain Tumour Awareness Month , a month to Turn May Grey or Go Grey for May .   Brain Tumour sites like the  Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada 's page or  Brain Cancer Canada 's page include information on Brain Tumour and Brain Cancer Awareness and Fundraising, and here I hope to share more information for any who might want to learn more.  Earlier this year, I began adding grey nail polish to my thumbnails as my own "Go grey for Me" reminder, and it's become more poignant for me this month. Brain Tumour Awareness to me is part of broader health awareness topics, where it's important for us all to be aware when something seems 'off' even when we might not know what the cause is, and especially when we might be nervous about what the cause could be.  It's so easy to go down a 'Dr. Google' rabbit hole that can sometimes make us hesitant to reach out for help.  Only when we seek help can we find answers and a path forward, so I always ...

Since my surgery, and perhaps with the residual tumour still growing in my brain, I've had difficulty remembering a six digit number long enough to get it from my cell phone screen into whatever web page or app I'm trying to use.  Since surgery, I've probably made mistakes in my MFA code around a dozen times and I've been eager to not lock any of my accounts because of this small deficit.  I easily adjusted by realizing I could remember three digits long enough to type them in, so by swapping back and forth I could learn the first three digits then enter them, then go back to the code to learn the second three digits then enter them, then gain access to my various accounts. I decided to train up on six digit codes by creating something that would generate codes for me so I could then enter them and keep track of how often I was correct.  If you know me, you probably already can guess I used Excel with a simple formula that looks something like "=rand()", or ...