A great article here at the Myeloma Beacon, about Wobe Mugos E (enzyme therapy) and its benefits for multiple myeloma patients. Down below is the link for the article :
https://myelomabeacon.org/news/2010/01/11/papayas-papain-and-multiple-myeloma-a-potential-adjunct-therapy-that-requires-further-evaluation/
https://myelomabeacon.org/news/2010/09/02/guide-to-nutrition-in-multiple-myeloma-part-2-supplements/
Since Wobe Mugos E contains the following: 90 papain / chymotrypsin 40 / trypsin 50
(not a 100% accurate dosage, but nevertheless very close to what you buy) different websites sell them, at slightly different doges
Chymotrypsin is a proteolytic enzyme (digestive enzyme) (part of serine protease family) that in combination with the other substances, is prolonging the life of multiple myeloma patients considerably, is what the article says. That is nothing to sniff at! Especially when approved by the FDA.
My question is (might be a stupid question, but boy we could sure do with some answers)
bortezomib [Velcade] proteasome inhibitor and carfilzomib [Kyprolis] second generation proteasome inhibitor work like this :
Carfilzomib irreversibly binds to and inhibits the chymotrypsin-like activity of the 20S proteasome, an enzyme that degrades unwanted cellular proteins. Inhibition of proteasome-mediated proteolysis results in a build-up of polyubiquinated proteins, which may cause cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and inhibition of tumor growth.
More to the point ....
If certain chemo drugs are inhibiting chymotrypsin like activity, how come Wobe Mugos E helps? The supplement contains chymotrypsin, what some chemo drugs seem to inhibit. The form of chymotrypsin is active, and if used together with chemo, will the chemo not destroy the potential benefit of this supplement?
I would imagine there is a difference between "chymotrypsin activity " (from the drug) and chymotrypsin LIKE Activity, what chemo inhibits. BBut I just don't seem to get the hang of it.
If anyone has had experience with Wobe Mugos E please let us know. We would appreciate hearing your experiences with the drug.
Also there is not that much out there about Wobe Mugos E (some articles quite controversial positive vs. negative feedback) to help us decide better, "which way to go now". I guess we all have to make our own mind and decide based on what we read.
Thank you,
Johanna & Ian
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johanna - Name: Joanna
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Husband
- When were you/they diagnosed?: august 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Why is chymotrypsin good for myeloma patients?
Hi Johanna,
Wobe Mugos E and Wobenzym have not been "approved" by the FDA as a treatment for anything. The products are considered dietary supplements and are therefore regulated very differently than pharmaceuticals. You can read more about the FDA and the (rather limited) way it regulates supplements here:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/Dietarysupplements/default.htm
Furthermore, as far as I can tell, the clinical trial testing Wobe Mugos E in myeloma patients, which is mentioned in the Beacon article you linked to, was never completed. Here is the trial information:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00014339
which includes this note: "The recruitment status of this study is unknown because the information has not been verified recently." If you click around and check when updates were made to the trial information, you'll find that the last update changed its status to "Abandoned".
Also, when I searched to see if any article has ever been published that might have made use of data from this trial, I was not able to find anything. The last journal article mentioning Wobe Mugos E and myeloma is the one from 2001 mentioned in the Beacon article.
I hope this information is helpful as you consider different options for treating your partner's myeloma.
Good luck to both you.
Wobe Mugos E and Wobenzym have not been "approved" by the FDA as a treatment for anything. The products are considered dietary supplements and are therefore regulated very differently than pharmaceuticals. You can read more about the FDA and the (rather limited) way it regulates supplements here:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/Dietarysupplements/default.htm
Furthermore, as far as I can tell, the clinical trial testing Wobe Mugos E in myeloma patients, which is mentioned in the Beacon article you linked to, was never completed. Here is the trial information:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00014339
which includes this note: "The recruitment status of this study is unknown because the information has not been verified recently." If you click around and check when updates were made to the trial information, you'll find that the last update changed its status to "Abandoned".
Also, when I searched to see if any article has ever been published that might have made use of data from this trial, I was not able to find anything. The last journal article mentioning Wobe Mugos E and myeloma is the one from 2001 mentioned in the Beacon article.
I hope this information is helpful as you consider different options for treating your partner's myeloma.
Good luck to both you.
Re: Why is chymotrypsin good for myeloma patients?
Hi Cheryl, I'd like to apologize for the misunderstanding as I forgot to say the drug was approved as an "orphan drug" by the FDA for treatment of patients with multiple myeloma alone. So this is a good thing. The drug is not approved yet, nor rejected. It only means at some point the drug showed promising results and made it through a small market.
Quite a few drugs make in on the special "orphan" list but at the end of the day the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development mission is to advance the evaluation and development of products (drugs, biologics, devices, or medical foods) that demonstrate promise for the diagnosis and/or treatment of rare diseases or conditions. Lets hope this is the case and the drug goes further.
http://www.dgnewsnetwork.com/news/content.nsf/news/AFB40BF0B38D0E838525693700490720
As for clinicaltrials.gov, they have indeed tons of trials, very interesting, but at the same time, isn't it funny you can never get access to any info? People would be surprised to find how many trials are "forgotten" about, not published.
As we like to stay informed, and actually see the end result, this is not one of our favorite places to get the info from, as there are trials that ended 5 years ago, with no update on them.
Thank you for your input Cheryl.
Johanna
Quite a few drugs make in on the special "orphan" list but at the end of the day the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development mission is to advance the evaluation and development of products (drugs, biologics, devices, or medical foods) that demonstrate promise for the diagnosis and/or treatment of rare diseases or conditions. Lets hope this is the case and the drug goes further.
http://www.dgnewsnetwork.com/news/content.nsf/news/AFB40BF0B38D0E838525693700490720
As for clinicaltrials.gov, they have indeed tons of trials, very interesting, but at the same time, isn't it funny you can never get access to any info? People would be surprised to find how many trials are "forgotten" about, not published.
As we like to stay informed, and actually see the end result, this is not one of our favorite places to get the info from, as there are trials that ended 5 years ago, with no update on them.
Thank you for your input Cheryl.
Johanna
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johanna - Name: Joanna
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Husband
- When were you/they diagnosed?: august 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 60
Re: Why is chymotrypsin good for myeloma patients?
Thanks for your follow-up, Johanna.
I do think, however, that some further clarification in order.
The press release you link to says only that the FDA granted orphan drug status to Wobe Mugos E. However, being granted orphan drug status is completely a different issue from a drug being approved by the FDA to be sold for any use, including the orphan disease (multiple myeloma) for which the drug was granted orphan drug status.
To put it another way, the company that has been developing Wobe Mugos E does NOT have permission from the FDA to sell it as a prescription drug for anything, including multiple myeloma.
As is explained in the Wikipedia article on orphan drugs, "Orphan drug designation means that the sponsor [manufacture] qualifies for certain benefits, such as reduced taxes, from the federal government. It does not mean the drug is safe and effective and legal to manufacture and market in the United States."
So, right now, Wobe Mugos E can only be sold in the U.S. as a supplement. The company developing it has not provided the FDA with sufficient clinical trial data to convince the FDA to allow it to sell the supplement as a prescription drug to treat multiple myeloma.
Also, regarding clinicaltrials.gov, it is a website that is only for listing clinical trials. Sometimes those listings include summaries of the results of the trials. However, the best place to find medical journal articles on any subject, including clinical trials, is pubmed.gov.
In addition, if you have searched pubmed.gov thoroughly for an article summarizing the results of a trial that was listed at clinicaltrials.gov, and you weren't able to find the results published anywhere, it's fairly safe to assume that the trial was not successful.
The chances that the results of a trial were positive, but not published, are pretty slim.
That's why I wrote what I did in my previous post. The Wobe Mugos E trial in multiple myeloma was either never completed or, if it was completed, the results were never reported. In addition, the results of the trial were never used to get Wobe Mugos E approved by the FDA as a prescription treatment for multiple myeloma, since that never happened.
I'm sorry if I seem to be harping on this, but I get the sense that you feel that the FDA has in some way said "Wobe Mugos E is effective against multiple myeloma", which it hasn't.
I also get the sense that you feel that the trial of Wobe Mugos E in multiple myeloma must have been completed, but it's just not easy to find the results. That's also not true. The information at clinicaltrials.gov is very thorough, and it indicates that the trial most likely was never completed. There also is no record at pubmed.gov of any results of the trial having been published.
I'm not saying all of this to be mean. I wish I could say that wobe Mugos E has been proven in a clinical trial to be effective against multiple myeloma, and it's been approved for that use by the FDA. But none of that is true, and I think you and Ian need to understand that.
I wish both of you all the best.
I do think, however, that some further clarification in order.
The press release you link to says only that the FDA granted orphan drug status to Wobe Mugos E. However, being granted orphan drug status is completely a different issue from a drug being approved by the FDA to be sold for any use, including the orphan disease (multiple myeloma) for which the drug was granted orphan drug status.
To put it another way, the company that has been developing Wobe Mugos E does NOT have permission from the FDA to sell it as a prescription drug for anything, including multiple myeloma.
As is explained in the Wikipedia article on orphan drugs, "Orphan drug designation means that the sponsor [manufacture] qualifies for certain benefits, such as reduced taxes, from the federal government. It does not mean the drug is safe and effective and legal to manufacture and market in the United States."
So, right now, Wobe Mugos E can only be sold in the U.S. as a supplement. The company developing it has not provided the FDA with sufficient clinical trial data to convince the FDA to allow it to sell the supplement as a prescription drug to treat multiple myeloma.
Also, regarding clinicaltrials.gov, it is a website that is only for listing clinical trials. Sometimes those listings include summaries of the results of the trials. However, the best place to find medical journal articles on any subject, including clinical trials, is pubmed.gov.
In addition, if you have searched pubmed.gov thoroughly for an article summarizing the results of a trial that was listed at clinicaltrials.gov, and you weren't able to find the results published anywhere, it's fairly safe to assume that the trial was not successful.
The chances that the results of a trial were positive, but not published, are pretty slim.
That's why I wrote what I did in my previous post. The Wobe Mugos E trial in multiple myeloma was either never completed or, if it was completed, the results were never reported. In addition, the results of the trial were never used to get Wobe Mugos E approved by the FDA as a prescription treatment for multiple myeloma, since that never happened.
I'm sorry if I seem to be harping on this, but I get the sense that you feel that the FDA has in some way said "Wobe Mugos E is effective against multiple myeloma", which it hasn't.
I also get the sense that you feel that the trial of Wobe Mugos E in multiple myeloma must have been completed, but it's just not easy to find the results. That's also not true. The information at clinicaltrials.gov is very thorough, and it indicates that the trial most likely was never completed. There also is no record at pubmed.gov of any results of the trial having been published.
I'm not saying all of this to be mean. I wish I could say that wobe Mugos E has been proven in a clinical trial to be effective against multiple myeloma, and it's been approved for that use by the FDA. But none of that is true, and I think you and Ian need to understand that.
I wish both of you all the best.
4 posts
• Page 1 of 1
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