Archive for category Clinical Trials

Clinical Trials and the Mesothelioma Patient

Posted by Mellissa@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma, Support on August 17, 2009

Clinical trials are an attractive alternative for many mesothelioma patients.  This is often the case for those who have been given a short prognosis, been diagnosed in the late stages of the disease or for those patients who prefer less invasive treatment options.  These clinical trials offer mesothelioma patients access to cutting edge technology/treatment and also provide hope when other treatments have been unsuccessful.  In addition, many of my clients have voiced that participating in these clinical trials allows them to help future victims of mesothelioma.

Before becoming part of a clinical trial I advise my clients to understand what a clinical trial is, the benefits, and the risks involved. Ask questions and consult your treatment provider in regard to the specific trial.  Discuss the trial and what it could mean to you with your family and close friends.

A clinical trial that has been getting attention lately is MORAb-009.  This study focuses on the use of MORAb-009 monoclonal antibody with current chemotherapy drugs pemetrexed and cisplatinum.  The goal of this trial is to determine if using MORAb-009 as a combination therapy with the current standard of care provides better results than using the standard of care by itself.  The researchers hope this trial will show slowed or stopped progression of the mesothelioma disease,  safety of the drug and anti-tumor effects of the drug.  A detailed description of the study can be found at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140835.php .

I encourage anyone suffering from mesothelioma or other cancers to explore all their treatment options including clinical trials.   Below are resources for more information about clinical trials and mesothelioma trials currently in progress.

National Institute of Health (NIH)

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Center Watch (http://search.centerwatch.com/default.aspx?SearchQuery=mesothelioma)

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Erlotinib Clinical Trial Shows Promising Results

Posted by Mellissa@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Research on August 9, 2009

Clinical Trials play an important role in many mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer client treatments.  This is the recent update on Erlotinib (Tarceva) and improved survival rates in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer when treated with this drug after standard chemotherapy.  Read about it at http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/news.showNewsArticle/id/13/news_id/1531.

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CBP501 Moves on to Phase 2 Trials For Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Patients

Posted by Josh@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma, Research on December 15, 2008

CanBas Co. Ltd. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company have announced that they plan to advance the drug, CBP501, into phase-2 trials for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

CBP501 induces the death of cancerous cells by stripping the cell of the ability to progress through the cell life cycle. Phase-1 data suggests that when CBP501 is combined with selected chemotherapeutic drugs it enhances the established treatments’ ability to fight cancer. 

“For CanBas, which was founded based on a vision of creating superior new treatments for cancer, CBP501’s advancement to phase-2 is an outstanding milestone achieved through our collaborative work with Takeda,” said Takumi Kawabe, president and CEO of CanBas. “We now are focused on continuing the development efforts to achieve our goal of marketing authorization.” 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company’s President, Yasuchika Hasegawa, is also encouraged by the progress being made with the drug and has said that they along with CanBas will do their diligence to move development along and provide potential benefits of the drug to the medical community.

Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by asbestos. Asbestos can also cause lung cancer.

Learn more about mesothelioma treatment.

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Patients In Clinical Trials Left In The Dark

Posted by Josh@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Research on December 9, 2008

When patients enroll in clinical asbestos trials, they do so with the knowledge that their own health might not benefit and could even be compromised. What they may not have knowledge of, however, are the actual results of the clinical trial as is the case with many clinical trials including new drugs. “There’s usually not much additional effort done to reach out to participants and inform them (of the results) in a timely manner,” says Ray Dorsey, a University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center neurology instructor. More surprising, participants usually don’t even learn if they were taking an actual drug or a placebo or comparator drug, information that could impact their own care.

“Why isn’t this standard?” Dorsey says of efforts to inform participants of study results. “I suspect it’s just not a priority.”

It should be, says Conrad Fernandez, a pediatric oncologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has surveyed researchers about why they don’t inform patients of results.

“We have a moral obligation to offer research results to participants,” Fernandez says. “It needs to be done in a very carefully planned way.”

Clinical trials can serve to be extremely helpful in treating mesothelioma and lung cancer caused by asbestos. As of right now there is no known cure for mesothelioma.

Learn more about mesothelioma research.

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Elderly’s Absence In Clinical Mesothelioma Trials

Posted by Josh@SokoloveLaw in Clinical Trials, Mesothelioma on November 6, 2008

According to “The Independent Journal of Clinical Practice,” age is not an independent factor in cancer survival rates and should not influence decisions about how to treat older patients that have been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Elderly patients who have been diagnosed with cancers have been systematically excluded from clinical trials despite the fact that 60% of cancer occurs in patients over the age of 65.  Elderly participation in clinical trials does not exceed 25%, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to predict how these older patients would have responded to the latest cancer treatments for cancers like mesotehlioma that stem from the harmful material asbestos. 

Dr. Eva Domingo and a team of researchers from the University of Barcelona conducted a study in which they looked at 224 patients that had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. The patients ranged from 32-92 years of age; with 75% of the participants being male and 61% of the patients being at least 65 years old. In addition, 43% of the patients had respiratory tumors, 29% had gastrointestinal tumors, and 42% had a localized tumor. Unfortunately 62% of the participants did not survive through the one year follow up period.

There were four independent factors that played a significant role in predicting survival.

·        Metastatic dissemination, a measure of how wide the cancer has spread.

·        The level of functional impairment the patient experienced.

·        The patient’s physical quality of life.

·        Serum albumin level, a major protein produced in the liver, and is essential in maintaining pressure in the vascular system. 

Domingo and her team concluded that patients have a better chance for survival if the cancer has not spread; the patient has a good physical quality of life, high serum albumin levels, and fewer problems with functional impairment. According to Domingo, “The patient’s age was not an independent factor that predicted how likely they were to survive cancer. Because of this, age, in itself, should not be used to limit diagnostic or therapeutic decisions.”

Learn more about mesothelioma research.

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