Senate Passes Asbestos Awareness Resolution, Inches Closer to Ban
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed its annual National Asbestos Awareness Week resolution, inching closer to long-awaited, much-anticipated legislation to ban the toxic substance.
The bipartisan resolution urged the Office of the Surgeon General to warn and better educate citizens about the public health issues of asbestos exposure, the primary cause of mesothelioma cancer.
Advocates welcomed the resolution designating April 1-7 as the official Awareness Week, believing more widespread education will increase the likelihood of a legislative ban in the future.
“I think the resolution shows unanimous understanding...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - April 4, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Tags: Asbestos (general) Asbestos Exposure Awareness/Advocacy Source Type: news
Past Asbestos Testing on Inmates Could Affect J & J Talc Lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson funded a study more than 50 years ago at a Philadelphia prison that injected asbestos fibers into a small number of inmates to measure the short-term reaction to the toxic mineral when mixed with talc.
Details of Johnson & Johnson’s involvement in that study were unsealed for the first time at a trial in 2021, illustrating the company’s long-ago concern over potential problems with asbestos-contaminated talc in several of its products.
Bloomberg News first reported the story earlier this month. Legal experts believe the recently uncovered documents could potentially be powerful evidence ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - March 16, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
$36.5 Million Verdict Could Change Asbestos Litigation in Libby, Montana
A Montana District Court jury recently delivered a $36.5 million verdict in a bellwether case that is expected to significantly change the landscape of future litigation involving vermiculite mining and asbestos exposure in Libby, Montana.
The jury in Great Falls, Montana, awarded laborer Ralph Hutt $6.5 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages in February, dwarfing awards plaintiffs have typically received in the past.
Based on a recent Montana Supreme Court decision, the insurance carrier once overseeing the occupational safety program at W.R. Grace & Company, which operated an asbest...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - March 3, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Lynette Zilio Source Type: news
Johnson & Johnson ’ s Talc Bankruptcy Plan Approved
Much to the ire of plaintiff attorneys across the country, a federal judge in New Jersey granted approval for Johnson & Johnson to move forward with its controversial bankruptcy plan involving thousands of talc-related lawsuits.
This strategy will allow Johnson & Johnson to split its assets from its liabilities, putting more than 38,000 claims on a newly created entity called LTL Management LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The lawsuits center around asbestos-contaminated talc and include those for mesothelioma cancer. The majority involve ovarian cancer.
United States Bankruptcy Judge...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - March 1, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
Mesothelioma Clinical Trial Matches Treatment to Genetic Profiles
This study met its primary endpoint, showing promising clinical activity of abemaciclib in patients with p16ink4A-negative mesothelioma who were previously treated with chemotherapy,” the authors concluded. “[This therapy] warrants further investigation in a randomized study as targeted stratified therapy.”
Some patients may have genes that allow a particular response to a drug, such as abemaciclib, but there is still potential to find targets beneficial to other patients.
The researchers are interested in adding additional therapy options for patients as the clinical trial continues. Depending on their genetic...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - February 28, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
NCI Moving Closer to More Effective Treatment for Pleural Mesothelioma
A research team at the National Cancer Institute is developing a novel therapy that could change the treatment paradigm for pleural mesothelioma. It is a long-awaited, much-needed breakthrough.
The potential intraoperative adjuvant is a spray-on hydrogel involving genetically engineered molecular nanoparticles designed to specifically target and kill tumor cells.
It showed surprising efficacy in a recent laboratory study at the NCI with mesothelioma models in mice. Nature Nanotechnology published the study, detailing the impressive results.
“This could be a huge deal, potentially a real game-changer in treating ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - February 1, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
FDA Looks at Stricter Testing for Asbestos in Talc
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently moved a step closer to a much-needed, stricter standardization of testing for the presence of toxic asbestos fibers in talc-containing cosmetic products.
On Jan. 13, the FDA released its 124-page consensus document written by the Interagency Working Group on Asbestos in Consumer Products. It outlined a scientific assessment on testing that should better protect the public.
Eight U.S. federal agencies, selected by the FDA, were represented in the Interagency Working Group, which began the project in 2018.
The burgeoning issue of small amounts of dangerous asbestos in t...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 18, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
Mesothelioma Specialty Centers Factor in 2021 Best Hospital Rankings
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is No. 1 for the seventh consecutive year on the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals for Cancer list.
The annual cancer rankings were included in the media company’s recently published Best Hospitals 2022 guidebook. Cancer is one of the 15 specialties for which hospitals in the U.S. were ranked.
Other hospitals in the top five are: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center.
Mesothelioma specialt...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 12, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: James Fannon Source Type: news
NCI Opens New Immunotherapy Clinical Trial for Mesothelioma
This study offers a reasonable chance of benefit. It would be nice to see if these patients again respond to immunotherapy.”
The FDA approved Opdivo and Yervoy, an immunotherapy combination, for first-line treatment of pleural mesothelioma in 2020. It was the first new systemic approval in more than 16 years. However, it only increased the median overall survival time from 14.1 months to 18.1 months, when compared to standard chemotherapy.
Find Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
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Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - January 4, 2022 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Chris Elkins Source Type: news
Clinical Trials Lead to Promising Updates in Mesothelioma Immunotherapy
This study recruited patients with unresectable pleural mesothelioma who had not received prior chemotherapy.
The primary endpoint of median overall survival was significantly longer with the addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy at 18.8 months versus 16.1 months with chemotherapy alone. However, adverse events such as hypertension and bleeding were more common in the bevacizumab group.
More recently, studies such as the phase II RAMSES trial in 2020 have shown promising results for combining anti-VEGF medication with chemotherapy as a second-line treatment. The addition of the VEGF inhibitor ramucirumab significan...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - December 8, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
Mesothelioma Clinical Trial to Involve Drug Studied for COVID-19
A novel phase II clinical trial for malignant mesothelioma is expected to open soon and involve a versatile, biological drug already showing promise in treating severe cases of COVID-19.
Oncotelic Therapeutics Inc., an innovative, immunotherapy/oncology company in Agoura Hills, California, hopes to open the mesothelioma clinical trial by March at a dozen prominent U.S. treatment centers, including the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania Medicine in Philadelphia and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
“We’re excited about the potential. There is a huge unmet medical need with ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - December 7, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Chris Elkins Source Type: news
Court Deals Blow to Johnson & Johnson Bankruptcy Plan for Talc Cases
A federal judge in North Carolina delivered a major setback to Johnson & Johnson and its controversial plan to unload all talc-related litigation in bankruptcy court through a recently-created subsidiary.
Bankruptcy Judge Craig Whitley said he was “obligated” to move the case from North Carolina to New Jersey, where Johnson & Johnson is headquartered and thousands of the talc-related lawsuits are already pending.
The move from North Carolina to New Jersey takes J&J from a jurisdiction considered favorable to its bankruptcy strategy to one that is unfavorable, based upon past cases.
Johnson & Jo...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - November 12, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
University of Vermont Study Opens New Door for Mesothelioma Treatment
Researchers at the University of Vermont Cancer Center have uncovered a new approach to the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma, sparking a clinical trial that has opened with considerable anticipation.
The trial involves RSO-021, a novel drug that works by inhibiting a tumor cell’s ability to manage its own toxic waste byproduct.
“The key to the therapy is the universal vulnerability present in these cancer cells that our therapeutic approach interferes with,” University of Vermont professor Brian Cunniff, the study’s lead researcher, told The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com. “These tumor cells...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - November 3, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
Study Supports Opdivo as Second-Line Mesothelioma Treatment
When the effectiveness of first-line chemotherapy fails and malignant mesothelioma returns, more patients could soon turn with confidence to a proven, second-line treatment.
The first phase III, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial studying the safety and efficacy of Opdivo, the immunotherapy drug known generically as nivolumab, has raised the level of confidence in this option for patients with relapsed disease.
“The evidence is robust, the survival significant,” Dr. Dean Fennell, chair of Thoracic Medical Oncology, University of Leicester and University Hospitals in the United Kingdom, told The Mesot...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
New California Law Could Benefit Mesothelioma Plaintiffs
A recently amended California law will now allow the estates of deceased plaintiffs, including mesothelioma patients, to collect pain and suffering damages.
Previously, only the person who sustained bodily injury could recover pain and suffering damages. These damages are often the largest sums of money at stake in many mesothelioma lawsuits. When it becomes law on Jan. 1, Senate Bill 447 will expand the range of recoverable damages and eliminate long-standing restrictions.
The amended statute, signed Oct. 1, allows California to join 45 other states that permit the recovery of noneconomic damages for an assort...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - October 25, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Fran Mannino Source Type: news
