Top 10 Mesothelioma News Stories of 2015

We're making progress in the fight against malignant pleural mesothelioma. Doctors are treating it more aggressively. New drugs are emerging. Survivors are living longer. Therapies are becoming more precise and individualized. And specialty centers are becoming more prominent and comprehensive. Even the highly criticized U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking it more seriously now. There is growing hope on the horizon. Here are the most prominent stories of 2015, providing a glimpse of what will come in 2016. FDA Approves Keytruda and Opdivo for Lung Cancer The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval in 2015 to immunotherapy drugs Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab) for non-small cell lung cancer, opening the door for future use in the fight against malignant pleural mesothelioma. Immunotherapy drugs like these two are expected to become the key to future advances in mesothelioma treatment. While the trimodality approach of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation remains the standard of care, immunotherapy drugs eventually will become a powerful adjuvant therapy. "This was the biggest breakthrough for lung cancer in recent history," immunotherapy researcher Raymond Wong, Ph.D., of the Pacific Heart Lung & Blood Institute in Los Angeles, said. "It could [one dau] signal a paradigm shift in the way many cancers are treated, including mesothelioma." Keytruda and Opdivo are designed to inhibit proteins on cells ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news