Novel Treatments & Drugs
Mesothelioma patients with a gene mutation could benefit greatly from using an anti-malaria drug called quinacrine. Quinacrine is known by the brand name Atabrine. For a long time, it was the primary anti-malaria drug, but it has been replaced by the preferred chloroquine. Researchers at Penn State found that quinacrine shows great cytotoxicity when used…
A cancer fighting gel that is applied directly to tumors could help mesothelioma patients. Researchers in Maryland tested the treatment on animals with mesothelioma tumors. The tumors responded even after one application. The gel could be used alone or could be used while doctors are performing surgery on mesothelioma. It could change the future of…
Combining the drug ramucirumab with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine is showing to be a successful second line treatment for pleural mesothelioma. Ramucirumab is a type of immunotherapy drug called a monoclonal antibody, which targets and restricts proteins that stimulate blood vessel growth in tumors. The Lancet Oncology published the results of the Italian study involving…
There are some good results coming from a German study looking at Pleurectomy and Decortication surgery (P/D) being combined with HITHOC. Pleurectomy surgery is surgery that removes mesothelioma tumors but leaves the lung intact while HITHOC is a method of adding heated chemotherapy to the pleural area, sparing the rest of the body. When used…
Pleural mesothelioma could soon have a new approved treatment option. The Food and Drug Administration just granted orphan drug status to ONCOFID-P for the treatment of the cancer. It is currently being studied for invasive bladder cancer, but data from lab and mice models is showing it could be beneficial for pleural mesothelioma as well.…
Tumor Treating Fields were approved for treating mesothelioma, and while they are effective, researchers want to make them more effective for the cancer. A researcher at the Humanitas University in Milan is studying different drug combinations to use with Tumor Treating Fields. The goal is to find a drug that has a synergistic effect with…
Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center are experimenting with a combination of CAR-T cell therapy and Keytruda, a PD-1 blocker for the treatment of pleural mesothelioma. This is the first time that these two therapies have been combined. The results were recently published in Cancer Discovery. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the…
A new cancer vaccine was found to be effective in mesothelioma patients alongside Opdivo in a new study. It was studied in people whose cancer no longer responded to standard chemotherapy. The phase I clinical trial took place at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and it involved the galinpepimut-S vaccine, or GPS. Data early…
Vinorelbine could be a useful second-line treatment for patients with relapsed mesothelioma. A phase II clinical trial examined vinorelbine to see how effective it is in patients who had their pleural mesothelioma progress after platinum chemotherapy treatment. Doctors believe vinorelbine could be another option for patients instead of the standard platinum-based chemotherapy. The study, which…
Artificial intelligence could help treat mesothelioma in the future. Researchers in Scotland have been developing a prototype imaging system to help with diagnostics and therapeutics for the treatment of mesothelioma. It is being developed at the University of Glasgow and Canon Medical Research Europe. The artificial intelligence uses computer software to effectively detect and measure…
