From Australia comes breaking news of new hope for those diagnosed with the asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. A new drug combination, say doctors there, may provide those diagnosed with mesothelioma a better quality of life after chemotherapy. Doctors at Royal North Shore Hospital hope to prove that thalidomide can delay tumor regrowth and maintain quality of life after chemotherapy with Alimta.

The news comes on the heels of a Tuesday decision by the Australian government to add the chemotherapy agent Alimta to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Alimta is a standard chemotherapy agent that has been shown to increase survival time and improve quality of life for those suffering from mesothelioma. Until Tuesday, though, it has been too expensive for many mesothelioma patients.

On Tuesday, however, the Australian government announced the addition of Alimta to the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme), which makes the cancer fighting drug available to those who cannot afford to pay full price for the drug. The PBS subsidizes pharmaceutical products for those who meet income guidelines.

Mesothelioma pioneer Bernie Banton is being credited with bringing about the change. Banton, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma after being exposed at work for years, went public with his disease and openly campaigned for legislation to protect others from the asbestos that took his life in November. In addition, he campaigned for better and more standardized treatment for those suffering from mesothelioma. The fight to have Alimta added to the PBS was one of his campaigns. The PBS listing will lower the cost of Alimta from $3000 per treatment to about $30 per treatment, bring it within range of all those suffering from the disease.

Immediately after the announcement that Alimta had been added to the PBS, researchers announced that the subsidy paves the way for a national clinical trial of Thalidomide as a follow-up treatment for those with mesothelioma.

The study will be undertaken by the Australian Lung Cancer Trials Group, who will recruit 100 patients who have been treated with Alimta. They’ve dubbed the trial MATES (Maintenance Thalidomide in mESothelioma). The acronym could be a tribute to Banton, who was widely known as “everybody’s mate”.

Currently, Thalidomide is being trialed in the Netherlands and at the University of Maryland Medical Center in the United States, where the study has reached Phase II of clinical trials.

Thalidomide is notorious as a drug that was prescribed for morning sickness during the 1950s and early 1960s, and was found to cause serious birth defects. Study lead Dr. Nick Pavlakis of Royal North Shore Hospital, says that the risk of birth defects won’t be a factor in this set of trials, since most patients are either men or past childbearing age.
Thalidomide is already approved on the PBS for treatment of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. Doctors at UMMC in the United States believe that using Thalidomide as a follow-up to Alimta treatment may increase the expected survival time by up to two months and substantially improve the quality of life of patients who have been treated with Alimta.

“There’s not that many trials addressing improvements to Alimta internationally, so we hope to be able to contribute to patient benefit by advancing the treatment for this disease,” said Pavlakis.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Mesothelioma Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.