Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Pemetrexed, which is marketed as Alimta, is a chemotherapy drug that has been FDA-approved to treat malignant pleural mesothelioma. French researchers reported at the 2^nd European Lung Cancer Conference that their Phase I clinical trial suggested that pemetrexed is as well as tolerated well enough to take a high dose in combination with concurrent radiation therapy to increase its effectiveness as a lung cancer treatment.

The earliest trial was conducted using pemetrexed along with cisplatin chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy for the treatment of nine patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer. A tenth patient who had begun the trial had to be removed because of disease progression. Seven of the remaining nine patients completed all four chemotherapy cycles, as well as eight of them completed the radiation therapy.

One patient receiving the highest dose of pemetrexed underwent grade 4 septic shock, indicating dose-limiting toxicity. But for the most part, the pemetrexed was tolerated well enough to justify the increased dose to increase the chance of killing cancerous cells.

For the filled story, go to PhysOrg.