Mesothelioma Pages

The company MolMed S.p.A, based in Italy, is manufacturing a drug that may be the long awaited cure for the rare cancer mesothelioma. In clinical trials, NGR-hTNF has shown to work against mesothelioma and liver cancers, as well as large tumors in the arms and legs when used in high doses.

The company’s CEO, Claudio Bordignon, said, following trials, “We now have evidence of clinical activity of NGR-hTNF in five different types of solid tumors, adding two more indications, ovarian and small-cell lung cancer to those observed in completed Phase II trials as a single agent in colorectal cancer, liver cancer and mesothelioma.”

While an estimated ninety thousand people suffer from mesothelioma annually worldwide, these patients and their families have not yet proved a financially lucrative market for pharmaceutical companies. However, as the mesothelioma case numbers are continuing to climb in Western nations with many developing countries expected to peak in the next several decades, the incentive may now be upon research groups to begin an aggressive search for a cure.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lung lining caused almost exclusively by the toxic fibers of asbestos. In the US the Environmental Protection Agency holds high standards for the use and safe removal of asbestos, commonly used in building materials and industrial manufacturing. These regulations are described in the EPA’s Clean Air Act. In other countries around the world the standards are not so high, if they even exist.

Mesothelioma has a long latency period, typically between twenty and forty years. This waiting period provides a good source for estimating times of peak cases for nations and regions still using asbestos materials.

After treating the first patient in clinical trials using NGR-hTNF, Bordignon said, “We are really proud of this important milestone, as NGR-hTNF may represent a novel treatment option for malignant mesothelioma, a disease with very high unmet medical need. Based on the positive results of a multicentre Phase II trial, this Phase III trial is optimally designed to investigate the full therapeutic potential of NGR-hTNF in the treatment of mesothelioma.”

This is good news for people who have been exposed to asbestos but have not yet been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Although this cancer has an incredibly short life expectancy following diagnosis, there are countless potential patients who have not yet seen signs or symptoms. NGR-hTNF could be just in time for the peak in mesothelioma cases expected around the world.

New treatments and therapies continue to surface in the fight against mesothelioma. As the number of deaths from this rare cancer rises globally, these advances could not come at a better time. It is estimated that fifteen to twenty thousand people suffer with the disease annually worldwide, and three thousand Americans die from mesothelioma each year.

After diagnosis, life expectancy for mesothelioma patients ranges from six months to several years, averaging eighteen months. Typically treated with chemotherapy, mesothelioma has no know cures. Many patients are turning to palliative treatments to focus on quality of life for the short time they have left.

Mesothelioma can take twenty to thirty years to develop, often after workplace asbestos exposure. This means most patients are not being diagnosed with the disease until middle age or later. Health and age are important factors in treatment decisions, not everyone can withstand the toll of surgeries and the harsh effects of chemotherapy.

Five years ago in Boston, Dr. David J. Sugarbaker defied odds when he administered several advanced treatments to a young mesothelioma patient, Karen Grant. Dr. Sugarbaker headed the Mesothelioma Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He was also the chief of the hospitals Division of Thoracic Surgery and a Richard Wilson Professor of Oncologic Surgery at Harvard Medical School when Grant, just twenty-nine at the time, sought his leadership in her treatment.

Dr. Sugerbaker and his staff began Grant’s treatment with two of the same surgeries to remove cancer tumors and infected tissues from her lungs and lung lining. This surgery, called extrapeleural pneumonectomy, is a typical one for mesothelioma patients that often results in slowed cancer growth and pain relief.

Following the extrapeleural pneumonectomies, Grant under went laser surgery to kill remaining cancer cells in and around her lungs that were not removed in the prior operations. A relatively new treatment was then administered: a chemotherapy bath in which the drug is heated to a certain temperature more potent to the cancer cells and used to soak the infected areas.

Now in her mid-thirties, Grant has shown no signs of mesothelioma in follow-up scans and tests. She may be the first patient to survive this deadly cancer and it’s equally aggressive treatments.

Dr. Sugarbaker’s breakthrough with Grant may be what Dr. Pasi Janne of the Dana-Farber Institute calls “a milestone” on the road to a cure.