New Lung Cancer Drugs Raise Hope for Mesothelioma Patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted approval for immunotherapy drugs Keytruda and Opdivo to fight non-small cell lung cancer, raising the hopes of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Drugmakers Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb manufacture Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab), respectively. Both drugs target PD-1 and PD-L1, specific proteins that block a body's immune system from attacking the cancer cells. Those same proteins were identified in a subset of mesothelioma patients with the shortest survival times. The University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center recently started the only phase II mesothelioma clinical trial for Keytruda. Meanwhile, the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam announced in July the first mesothelioma clinical trial for Opdivo. Both drugs were already approved for other cancers, and they are now being tested in numerous clinical trials across the U.S. Opdivo has shown a promising response rate with cancers of the bladder, kidney, head and neck. Immunotherapy Cancer Drugs Work Best in Synergy Cancer researchers believe that immunotherapy drugs, such as Keytruda and Opdivo, can be utilized most effectively in a combined effort, also known as synergy, with other drugs as adjuvant treatment to eliminate remaining cancer cells after surgery. For example, the FDA approved Opdivo in 2014 for use in combination with Yervoy, a skin cancer drug, as an immunotherapy strategy for advanced melano...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news