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New Chemotherapy Promising for Asbestos Lung Cancer
LONDON (Reuters Health) - The results of a preliminary study suggest that a new chemotherapy combination may be a promising treatment for mesothelioma, British researchers reported on Tuesday.
Mesothelioma is a type of lung cancer thought to be triggered by long-term inflammation where asbestos fibers come into contact with the lung surface. It affects 1,700 people in the UK each year and is normally resistant to chemotherapy.
But the combination of a new drug called pemeterxed, developed by Eli Lilly, and an existing drug called carboplatin, could be an effective treatment for the hard-to-treat condition, according to Dr. Hilary Calvert from Newcastle General Hospital and colleagues.
The researchers administered the two drugs to 27 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in a range of doses. They report their results in the August 13th issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"The drug combination showed remarkable activity in mesothelioma," Calvert said. "Indeed, our study provided the first convincing demonstration that pemeterxed (and) carboplatin could be useful in the treatment of the disease."
Of 25 patients who completed the study, 8 showed a partial response, while 70% of patients noticed an improvement in symptoms, often after just two courses of chemotherapy.
The median survival time in the study was 451 days, or over 14 months. A handful of patients have survived for 3 years or more. Previously, people diagnosed with mesothelioma could expect to survive for 6 to 8 months, the University of Newcastle researchers said.
The chemotherapy was toxic to the blood cell system, causing mainly neutropenia, a drop in infection-fighting white blood cells known as neutrophils. However, this side effect was usually short-lived and "caused few clinical problems," the researchers write.
More advanced trials have since been completed, showing an improvement of survival and symptoms, Calvert noted.
"Mesothelioma is a serious condition that is difficult to treat so this is an important development," said Dr. Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK.
"We now need to look closely at the drug's performance in the next stages of clinical trials to see how it compares to other anti-cancer drugs."
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology 2002;20.