Mesothelioma Clinical Trial Explores Surgery with Immunotherapy

The Baylor College of Medicine in Houston has begun exploring the effectiveness of specific immunotherapy drugs in combination with aggressive surgery for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. The single-center, clinical trial has the potential to extend lives and alter the current multidisciplinary approach to treatment. “It will allow us to gain a much deeper understanding for how these drugs work with mesothelioma,” Dr. Bryan Burt, thoracic surgical oncologist at Baylor and primary trial investigator, told Asbestos.com. “There definitely could be a benefit [for the patients]. These drugs have proven very effective in solid tumors.” The trial, which officially began the patient enrollment process last week, will determine if durvalumab (MED14736) or durvalumab plus tremelimumab is a more effective drug combination with aggressive surgery. Eight patients will receive the single medication, and another eight will receive both medications. Each patient will undergo an extrapleural pneumonectomy or a pleurectomy/decortication. The clinical trial’s control group will include four patients who will undergo the same surgeries but without the drugs. Checkpoint Inhibitor Drugs Both immunotherapy agents are known as checkpoint inhibitors. These are drugs created with human antibodies that theoretically unmask the cancer cells and unleash a patient’s own immune system to attack. To remain hidden from the immune system, cancer cells make ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news