Mesothelioma Treatment Drug Enters Phase I/II Trial
Oxford BioMedica and a team of cancer immunologists from Cardiff University in Great Britain are collaborating to evaluate TroVax in a Phase I/II study for mesothelioma. The study aims to examine the effect of TroVax in combination with first-line chemotherapy agents Alimta and cisplatin as a treatment against malignant mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive cancer primarily caused by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers. Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until up to 50 years after initial exposure to asbestos. However, after symptoms become apparent, mesothelioma may rapidly progress to cause life-threatening complications. Currently there is no cure for mesothelioma, but it can be treated with varying degrees of success through the use of surgical procedures, chemotherapy and radiation.
Alimta, a chemotherapy drug from Eli Lilly, also known as permetrexed, is used in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma and nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Pemetrexed is used in combination with cisplatin, another mesothelioma chemotherapy drug.
The study is to be funded by the June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund (JHMRF). JHMRF was established in 1997 with an aim to “encourage and sponsor vital epidemiological research into the causes of mesothelioma, and to contribute to clinical trials with novel drug therapies for mesothelioma.”
The company expects to start patient recruitment later in the year.
