Archive for category Clinical Trials
Elderly’s Absence In Clinical Mesothelioma Trials
Posted by Josh@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma on November 6, 2008
According to “The Independent Journal of Clinical Practice,” age is not an independent factor in cancer survival rates and should not influence decisions about how to treat older patients that have been diagnosed with lung cancer.
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.
Number of Clinical Trial Volunteers Drastically Low
Posted by Emily@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials on October 6, 2008
Numerous surveys show few patients realize there are clinical trials going on for what ails them, and even those who are aware are often leery of taking part. As a result, testing of genuinely new treatments has fallen behind, one reason that approvals of new drugs has slowed. A shortage of patients also means the quality of testing has suffered. That’s because researchers are forced to widen the criteria that must be met for patients to take part, which often means the data collected is less definitive about whether the new drug works or is superior to existing treatments.
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.
MesoRC Adds New Clinical Trial Pages
Posted by Emily@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma on August 13, 2008
In a continued effort to provide visitors with the most comprehensive mesothelioma and asbestos-related resources, MesoRC is pleased to announce the addition of the Mesothelioma Ongoing Clinical Trials page to our site. This page provides visitors with important information regarding more than 40 current mesothelioma clinical trials taking place throughout the U.S. and Canada. These clinical trials focus on a variety of different treatments and therapies ranging from experimental chemotherapy to innovative new drug treatments.
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.
Clinical Trial Improves Mans Life
Posted by Emily@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Research on August 12, 2008
Hundreds of cancer patients participate in clinical trials each year. They take part to give themselves a chance of extra life, to help future generations of cancer sufferers and also to involve them in something positive at an otherwise depressing time. No one is more thankful for the innovative new drugs and therapies tested in the clinical trials than Brian Cramp.
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.
A Clinical Research Study of a New Treatment for Pleural Mesothelioma
Posted by Emily@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma, Research on June 27, 2008
Researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center say the standard treatment for pleural mesothelioma is currently surgery to remove the patient’s lung — a potentially debilitating consequence. “Current surgical and chemotherapy treatments of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma are unsatisfactory, and have not been shown to significantly prolong survival,” Dr. Robert Taub, the study’s principal investigator.
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
-
Follow Us
-
MesoRC on Twitter
