New Mesothelioma Treatment Guidelines May Extend Survival

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has changed its first-line treatment recommendation for unresectable pleural mesothelioma, believing it will extend patient survival significantly. The NCCN advisory panel recently added the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab to the long-standing chemotherapy combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin. Bevacizumab, also known by brand name Avastin, inhibits the formation of new blood vessels in tumors, effectively slowing the growth of cancer cells. It has successfully treated some types of lung and colorectal cancers. The NCCN recommendation is expected to be a precursor to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changing its only approved standard-of-care regimen (pemetrexed and cisplatin) for mesothelioma, which has stood since 2004. The recommendation will soon be incorporated into the NCCN Guidelines for Patients, according to a panel spokesperson. The Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Networkalready has published it. Drug Improved Survival Time for Mesothelioma Patients Bevacizumab improved survival time by 2.7 months in a recent randomized phase III clinical trial in France. The trial included 448 mesothelioma patients at 73 different sites from 2008 to 2014. All patients received a combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin, but nearly half also received bevacizumab. The median overall survival time was 18.8 months for those also receiving bevacizumab, but 16.1 months for those receiving only the other two drugs. ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: cancer chemotherapy chemotherapy drugs chemotherapy drugs for mesothelioma chemotherapy for mesothelioma mesothelioma treatment moffitt cancer center new chemotherapy drug Source Type: news