New Stem Cell Trial Fuels Hopes for Mesothelioma Treatment
Early results from an international clinical trial involving the targeted killing of mesothelioma stem cells are better than anticipated, fueling considerable hope for the future of treatment.
The phase II trial of the drug defactinib (VS-6063) currently includes 180 patients enrolled at 55 sites in 13 countries. Verastem, Inc., a relatively small biopharmaceutical company based in the Boston area, markets the drug.
The drug also is being tested - with equally encouraging results - for ovarian and non-small-cell lung cancers.
"We're onto something really important here," Verastem president and Chief Financial Officer Ro...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 16, 2015 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news
Lilly, Merck Enter Collaboration Agreement to Research Immuno-Oncology Combination Regimens in Multiple Types of Cancer
Dateline City:
KENILWORTH, N.J. & INDIANAPOLIS
Combinations of KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) with Alimta® (pemetrexed), Cyramza® (ramucirumab), or necitumumab to be explored
KENILWORTH, N.J. & INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the US and Canada, and Eli Lilly
and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced today an oncology clinical trial
collaboration to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of
KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-...
Source: Merck.com - Research and Development News - January 13, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Oncology Newsroom Research and Development News Corporate News Latest News Source Type: news
French Study Warns of Little-known Side Effect from Mesothelioma Drug,...
French researchers say doctors treating mesothelioma patients with pemetrexed should watch out for a potentially-serious but often-unrecognized side effect.(PRWeb January 05, 2015)Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/01/prweb12422010.htm (Source: PRWeb: Medical Pharmaceuticals)
Source: PRWeb: Medical Pharmaceuticals - January 6, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Vegetable Compound May Reduce Mesothelioma Treatment Side Effects
For a cancer as rare and difficult to treat as mesothelioma, innovative thinking is vital to making progress that helps survivors live longer and feel healthier.
While experimental therapies for this disease have harnessed genetically modified viruses, leopard frog eggs and laser-activated drugs, innovation doesn’t always come from exotic sources. Sometimes treatment breakthroughs are hiding in plain sight.
Take the veggies on your dinner plate, for example.
A research team has reported an anti-cancer vegetable compound called PEITC could have interesting therapeutic benefits for pleural mesothelioma patients.
The Nat...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - December 9, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Joey Rosenberg Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news
New Drug Ofev Gaining Momentum in Fight Against Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma patients battling shortness of breath — a symptom that makes everyday activities increasingly difficult — may soon find relief with nintedanib, a new anti-cancer drug shown to relieve respiratory distress.
Nintedanib recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a lung scarring condition with similarities to asbestosis.
German-based drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim markets the drug under the brand name Ofev. The European Commission also granted the marketing of the drug as Vargatef for use with docetaxel to combat lung ca...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - December 8, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news
Customizing chemotherapy in lung cancer: New phase II data reported
Measuring the expression levels of an enzyme involved in DNA synthesis can help predict the response of lung cancers to certain treatments, a Korean study has shown. In a randomized phase II study, researchers showed that patients whose lung cancers expressed low levels of an enzyme called thymidylate synthase experienced a greater benefit from treatment with the combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin than those whose tumors expressed high levels. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - September 27, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
Docetaxel or pemetrexed with cisplatin achieve comparable outcomes in non-squamous Lu Ca
(European Society for Medical Oncology) The first direct comparison of treating non-squamous lung cancer with either pemetrexed or docetaxel in addition to cisplatin has shown that the two combinations achieve similar progression-free survival, although docetaxel was associated with more frequent adverse events. (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - September 27, 2014 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Georgia Regents University Launches Immunotherapy Clinical Trial
The Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, a national leader in immunotherapy research, has opened its first clinical trial for mesothelioma patients.
The Phase 2 trial is open to patients with unresectable peritoneal or pleural mesothelioma, providing a promising new treatment option for this rare and aggressive cancer.
Immunotherapy involves triggering the body's own immune system to identify and destroy the cancer cells without harming the healthy ones.
This multicenter trial will study the drug tremelimumab, which has shown an ability to stimulate the immune system and attack tumors. It already has shown potential ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - September 22, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news
Aggressive Therapy Shows Hope for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Patients
Repeating an aggressive procedure that removes recurring cancer tumors from a patient's abdominal cavity and bathes the area in a heated chemotherapy solution is extending the lives of some peritoneal mesothelioma patients.
A recent retrospective analysis of 161 peritoneal mesothelioma patients at the Washington Cancer Institute shows those who repeated cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) two or three times after the initial procedure are living five, 10 or more years beyond their prognosis.
The median overall survival rate at the cancer institute was 77 months for those underg...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - September 16, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news
Study Warns of Kidney Damage Risk with Popular Mesothelioma Drug,...
Researchers say pemetrexed (Alimta), the top chemotherapy drug for mesothelioma, may carry a risk of acute kidney injury, even in patients whose baseline kidney function falls within recommended...(PRWeb July 16, 2014)Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb12014002.htm (Source: PRWeb: Medical Pharmaceuticals)
Source: PRWeb: Medical Pharmaceuticals - July 17, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Immunotoxin SS1P Proving Effective Against Mesothelioma
Medical oncologist Raffit Hassan, M.D., has studied SS1P, the genetically engineered immunotoxin, for more than 15 years, believing it could become the key to therapeutic advancements for malignant pleural mesothelioma.
He is getting closer to finding it.
In Hassan’s latest clinical trial at the National Cancer Institute, SS1P was particularly effective when used in combination with the pemetrexed/cisplatin chemotherapy regimen that has become the standard, first-line treatment for cancer patients.
The Phase I study, which began in 2011 and is still ongoing, was designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of S...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - July 16, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news
Threshold begins Phase III trial of TH-302 to treat lung cancer
US-based Threshold Pharmaceuticals has started a Phase II clinical trial of its investigational hypoxia-activated prodrug, TH-302, in combination with pemetrexed to treat patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). (Source: Drug Development Technology)
Source: Drug Development Technology - July 1, 2014 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Bevacizumab-Pemetrexed for Advanced Nonsquamous NSCLCBevacizumab-Pemetrexed for Advanced Nonsquamous NSCLC
Learn more about the safety and efficacy of bevacizumab maintenance with or without pemetrexed in nonsquamous nonsmall-cell lung cancer. Annals of Oncology (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
Source: Medscape Today Headlines - June 27, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Hematology-Oncology Journal Article Source Type: news
Eli Lilly loses UK Alimta patent case to Actavis
LONDON (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N said on Thursday it lost a patent case in the English High Court over its blockbuster Alimta lung cancer drug to generic drugmaker Actavis Plc ACT.N. (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - May 15, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: healthNews Source Type: news
Japan Study Find Standard Chemotherapy Still Best Hope for Mesothelioma
The long-standing chemotherapy combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed will remain the front-line treatment regimen for mesothelioma patients in the foreseeable future, despite recent efforts to develop newer and more effective drugs.
Nothing better has emerged.
Researchers at the Shizuoka Cancer Center and Juntendo University in Japan recently concluded that the cisplatin/pemetrexed (Alimta) combination remains the best choice.
"It should continue to be the standard, front-line chemotherapeutic regimen for inoperable MPM (malignant pleural mesothelioma)," wrote the authors of the March study, published in Respiratory I...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - March 28, 2014 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tim Povtak Tags: Treatment & Doctors Source Type: news
