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Author: Govt

Researchers with the largest phase III trial

to date for mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer affecting the lining of

the lung, reported results showing that patients on a new chemotherapy

drug regimen

live longer and have less pain than those on an older drug. The

findings were announced at the annual meeting of the American Society

of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando, Fla., on May 20, 2002.

Pemetrexed

(brand name AlimtaŸ) is a novel antifolate, a class of drugs that

targets the folic acid metabolic pathway, which effects availability of

certain B complex vitamins. The results of the trial show that tumors

shrank in 41 percent of patients on pemetrexed in combination with a

more commonly used chemotherapy agent called cisplatin.

Only 17 percent of patients receiving cisplatin alone experienced tumor

shrinkage. Additionally, those on the pemetrexed combination lived

nearly three months longer than those on cisplatin alone.

According

to lead author, Nicholas J. Vogelzang, M.D., University of Chicago

Cancer Research Center, "This is the largest clinical trial ever

conducted in this disease and the 25 to 30 percent improvement in

survival for patients on the combination therapy is the first time

anyone has documented a significant improvement in patients treated for

mesothelioma."

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is associated with a history of asbestos

exposure in about 70 to 80 percent of all cases and there is no

approved or very effective chemotherapy for the disease. Researchers

hypothesized that pemetrexed ....[MORE]

Author:

General Information

Prognosis in this disease is

difficult to assess consistently because
there is gre

at variability in the time before diagnosis and the rate

of disease
progression. Various surgical procedures ma

y be possible in selected patients,
providing long-term

survival without cure. In large retrospective series of

pleural mesothelioma patients, important prognostic factors were found to be

stage, age, performance status, and histology.

For patients treated with aggressive

surgi

cal approaches, factors associated with improved long-term

survival include epithelial histology, negative lymph

nodes, and negative

surgical margins. For those patients

treated with aggressive surgical approaches,

nodal stat

us is an important prognostic factor. Median survival for

malignant

local pleural disease has been reported as 16

months

and extensive disease as 5 months. In some inst

ances the tumor grows through the

diaphragm making the s

ite of origin difficult to assess.

Cautious interpretat

ion of treatment results in this disease is imperative because of

the selection differences among series. Effusions, both pleural and

peritoneal, represent major sympt

omatic problems for at least two thirds of the

patients.

A history of asbestos exposure is reported in about 70

% to 80% of

all cases of mesothelioma.

.....[MORE]

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved S.852, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act (FAIR Act), a bill that will establish a trust fund for victims with asbestos-related diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma. Charles G. Hardin, president of RetireSafe, issued the following statement in response to today's Judiciary Committee action