Recent News

Feasibility of an Early Palliative Care Intervention for Metastatic Cancer Patients. A Phase 2 Study

August 13, 2014

Purpose: The objective of this phase 2 study is to evaluate the feasibility of an early palliative care intervention for metastatic cancer patients. Feasibility will be assessed in terms of percentage of patients that accept the proposal of the early palliative care intervention and that effectively start to be followed in the palliative care out-patient clinic. The study will be performed in a consecutive series of newly diagnosed patients affected by lung cancer (NSCLC or SCLC, stage IIIb, IV), mesothelioma (stage II, IV), pancreas (stage IV), stomach (stage IIIb-IV).

Asia’s asbestos epidemic grows as sales focus on the poor

August 12, 2014

In most Western countries, asbestos is a banned substance due to the associated health risks. Research supports the constraints with billions spent on removal. Unfortunately, not all areas of the…

Combination Therapy of F16IL2 and Paclitaxel in Solid Tumour Patients

August 6, 2014

Purpose: This Phase Ib/II study is an open label, multicenter study.

The study is divided in two parts:

Phase I: an open-label, dose escalation study of F16IL2 in combination with paclitaxel for patients with solid tumours, bladder cancer, breast cancer, metastatic melanoma, mesothelioma, NSCLC, prostate cancer and sarcoma amenable to taxane therapy.

Phase II: a prospective, single-arm, multicentre study of a fixed dose of F16IL2 in combination with paclitaxel, equivalent to stage 1 of the Simon two-stage phase II design, for patients with metastatic melanoma, breast cancer and NSCLC amenable to taxane therapy.

Asbestos exposure is still a worldwide threat

August 6, 2014

Asbestos seems like a threat long since past. Most countries stopped using it in buildings by the 1990s and many have removed the dangerous substance in the years following. When…

ATREUS – Phase II Study on the Activity of Trabectedin in Patients With Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM)

July 30, 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether trabectedin is effective in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM).

Libby, Montana faces new asbestos-related threats

July 30, 2014

While exploring northwestern Montana in 1916, prospectors made a unique discovery in the mountains that would forever affect the people in the nearby town of Libby.  This strange mineral was…

MPM PDT Phase II Trial

July 16, 2014

Purpose: A randomized Phase II trial to test whether the addition of intraoperative Photofrin-mediated photodynamic therapy to radical pleurectomy and post-operative chemo.improves OS in the treatment of patients with epithelioid MPM. Subjects assigned to the PDT arm will be given the photosensitizer prior to surgery . All subjects will receive maximal surgical debulking. Subjects in the PDT arm will receive intraoperative treatment using real-time, isotropic light dosimetry.

CART-meso in Mesothelin Expressing Cancers

July 9, 2014

Purpose: Phase I study to establish safety and feasibility of intravenously administered lentiviral transduced CART-meso cells administered with and without cyclophosphamide in a 3+3 dose escalation design in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, serous epithelial ovarian cancer, or pleural mesothelioma. Dose: 1-3xE7 /mE2 (Cohort 1 and 2) and 1-3xE8 /mE2 (Cohort 3 and 4 ) CAR+ T cells by intravenous route. In the event of 2 DLTs at each dose level, we will dose deescalate by 10-fold.

Study finds new treatment boosts chemotherapy results in mesothelioma

July 8, 2014

Researchers with the National Cancer Institute recently found an immunotoxin may increase the efficacy of chemotherapy. When combined with popular treatments cisplatin and pemetrexed, SS1P caused antitumor activity in patients.…

Two-Part, Open-Label, Multi-Center, Phase 1/2 Study of BIW-8962 as Monotherapy in Subjects With Lung Cancer

July 2, 2014

Purpose: This Phase 1/2 study is designed to assess the following: safety and tolerability of BIW-8962, Dose Limiting Toxicities (DLTs), Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD), Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D) in Phase 1 in subjects with advanced/recurrent lung cancers or mesothelioma and preliminary efficacy in Phase 2 in subjects with advanced/recurrent Small Cell Lung Cancer.