This could be good news for patients suffering from mesothelioma which is a complicated disease.  Often pleural mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose and patients don’t receive a diagnosis until they are in the later stages of disease.  Then the treatment options are limited and a patient’s prognosis is typically 6 – 18 months.  Patients, families and advocates have been calling for increased funding for research which could lead to better diagnostic tests and treatment options.  This clinical trial could be a step in the right direction.

The study is looking for patients over the age of 18, who have not recently undergone radiation therapy or chemotherapy and have not had Alimta chemotherapy in the past.  Patients can call #212-305-6837 for more information about the study.

For more details read:  Lung Cancer Trial Targets Asbestos-Related Disease

Before becoming part of a clinical trial I advise my clients to understand what a clinical trial is, the benefits, and the risks involved. Ask questions and consult your treatment provider in regard to the specific trial.  Discuss the trial and what it could mean to you with your family and close friends.

A clinical trial that has been getting attention lately is MORAb-009.  This study focuses on the use of MORAb-009 monoclonal antibody with current chemotherapy drugs pemetrexed and cisplatinum.  The goal of this trial is to determine if using MORAb-009 as a combination therapy with the current standard of care provides better results than using the standard of care by itself.  The researchers hope this trial will show slowed or stopped progression of the mesothelioma disease,  safety of the drug and anti-tumor effects of the drug.  A detailed description of the study can be found at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140835.php .

I encourage anyone suffering from mesothelioma or other cancers to explore all their treatment options including clinical trials.   Below are resources for more information about clinical trials and mesothelioma trials currently in progress.

National Institute of Health (NIH)

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Center Watch (http://search.centerwatch.com/default.aspx?SearchQuery=mesothelioma)

CBP501 induces the death of cancerous cells by stripping the cell of the ability to progress through the cell life cycle. Phase-1 data suggests that when CBP501 is combined with selected chemotherapeutic drugs it enhances the established treatments’ ability to fight cancer. 

“For CanBas, which was founded based on a vision of creating superior new treatments for cancer, CBP501’s advancement to phase-2 is an outstanding milestone achieved through our collaborative work with Takeda,” said Takumi Kawabe, president and CEO of CanBas. “We now are focused on continuing the development efforts to achieve our goal of marketing authorization.” 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company’s President, Yasuchika Hasegawa, is also encouraged by the progress being made with the drug and has said that they along with CanBas will do their diligence to move development along and provide potential benefits of the drug to the medical community.

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos. Asbestos can also cause lung cancer.

Learn more about mesothelioma treatment.

“Why isn’t this standard?” Dorsey says of efforts to inform participants of study results. “I suspect it’s just not a priority.”

It should be, says Conrad Fernandez, a pediatric oncologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has surveyed researchers about why they don’t inform patients of results.

“We have a moral obligation to offer research results to participants,” Fernandez says. “It needs to be done in a very carefully planned way.”

Clinical trials can serve to be extremely helpful in treating mesothelioma and lung cancer caused by asbestos. As of right now there is no known cure for mesothelioma.

Learn more about mesothelioma research.

Elderly patients who have been diagnosed with cancers have been systematically excluded from clinical trials despite the fact that 60% of cancer occurs in patients over the age of 65.  Elderly participation in clinical trials does not exceed 25%, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to predict how these older patients would have responded to the latest cancer treatments for cancers like mesotehlioma that stem from the harmful material asbestos. 

Dr. Eva Domingo and a team of researchers from the University of Barcelona conducted a study in which they looked at 224 patients that had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. The patients ranged from 32-92 years of age; with 75% of the participants being male and 61% of the patients being at least 65 years old. In addition, 43% of the patients had respiratory tumors, 29% had gastrointestinal tumors, and 42% had a localized tumor. Unfortunately 62% of the participants did not survive through the one year follow up period.

There were four independent factors that played a significant role in predicting survival.

·        Metastatic dissemination, a measure of how wide the cancer has spread.

·        The level of functional impairment the patient experienced.

·        The patient’s physical quality of life.

·        Serum albumin level, a major protein produced in the liver, and is essential in maintaining pressure in the vascular system. 

Domingo and her team concluded that patients have a better chance for survival if the cancer has not spread; the patient has a good physical quality of life, high serum albumin levels, and fewer problems with functional impairment. According to Domingo, “The patient’s age was not an independent factor that predicted how likely they were to survive cancer. Because of this, age, in itself, should not be used to limit diagnostic or therapeutic decisions.”

Learn more about mesothelioma research.

A survey of 6,000 cancer patients done for the American Association for Cancer Research found that 85 percent were either unaware or unsure that taking part in an experimental treatment was an option for them. However, 75 percent said they would have been willing to sign up if they’d known it was possible. As a result of this shortage in patients, 80 percent of cancer clinical trials being delayed.

There are generally three phases/stages of clinical trials. First, the FDA requires that any treatment first be tested to prove that it’s safe in humans. These tests typically involve only a small number of volunteers, who may or may not be ill. Then testing moves on to demonstrate that the treatment has a positive effect on preventing or treating an illness at a certain dose, and that the effect is as good or better than the current standard treatment, or no treatment at all. Usually, researchers try to get from tens to hundreds of patients in these trials. Most study guidelines require that neither patients nor the doctor caring for them know whether they’re getting the new drug or not. The third phase of a drug or procedure trial pits the new against the best standard treatment in several thousand patients, unless the disease or condition is rare.

To learn more about clinical trials, click here.

For full article, click here.

While the MesoRC has always had lots of general information pertaining to clinical trials, visitors had to go offsite to find information on clinical trials that were currently taking place. This is no longer an issue as we are now able to bring the clinical trial resources and information straight to you in a concise, user-friendly way.

Cramp, a retired electricity distribution engineer, was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given only a few years to live. His right lung was filled with cancerous fluid, making it difficult to breathe, walk up stairs, or even talk a light stroll. He decided that his only choice for a prolonged survival was to participate in a clinical trial.

Cramp had his right lung drained and began to take the first of two experimental drugs. This helped reduce his tumor, but the side effects were unbearable. He said, “Frankly life wasn’t worth living because the side-effects were so awful. I had terrible pain in the nerve endings around my toes, I was throwing up, I was in bed most of the time and I couldn’t eat what I wanted because my taste buds were messed up.”

However, the second drug taken by Cramp, called Chilob, has shown great results. Chilob is an antibody developed to tell the body’s immune system to fight the cancer. The best part about the drug is that there are, “No side-effects at all,” according to Cramp. Moreover, when doctors compared the scan taken after this trial with the one they’d taken before the trial, it showed that the tumor hadn’t changed and the cancer was stabilized.

Cramp is planning on taking his wife, four children, and four grandchildren on vacation soon and he couldn’t be more excited. “When I booked it in May, I thought it might be our last family holiday together. Now I’m feeling that I might get to go on another one next year.”

Learn more about mesothelioma clinical trials.

The new study, however, focuses on a combination of chemotherapy and radiation targeted directly at the lung’s lining. Researchers anticipate that the radiation therapy will kill the cancer cells on the surface of the lung while sparing other parts of the lung and surrounding vital tissues.

To Read More About the Study, Click Here