Mesothelioma Research

No matter what type of cancer you have or disease you always want to know that doctors are working on finding a cure.
For Mesothelioma like many other cancers still have no cure.
However doctors are still continuing to find new treatments and hopefully one day a cure.
The downfall with mesothelioma is so many people are diagnosed to late, and unfortunatly is in advanced stages.
Because there has been such an up rise in the disease doctors are starting to take more notice in the cancer.
More researchers are on board now and looking for better treatments and hopefully a cure.
All newly developed drugs are tested in clinics by people who already have mesothelioma. Of course the sucess of these drugs are found out in these clinics. If they are sucessful they will be approved by the FDA and marketed, or thrown away and have to start all over again.
Chemotherapy is still the most popular treatment for cancer. It is used to relieve symptoms of mesothelioma and to make the patient feel more comfortable.
They are making progress with chemotherapy vs the cancer but still not a cure. The newest drug is Alimta,when used with another long-used chemo drug called Cisplatin, this is the only FDA approved agent specifically used to fight malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Another drug waiting to be approved by the FDA is called Onconase. Its the first drug in its class that has been shown to target cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone.
There are usually 3 different phases to a clinical trial.
Phase 1-usually they enroll a small group of people and test them on how the new drug is going to react and be administered.
Phase 2-trials usually give early information whether or not a new drug will work. It also provides information about safety and benefits.
Phase 3-they compare the new drugs with the current treatment. Usually people from all over participate in this phase. They will receive the new treatment or the standard treatment.
It's up to you whether you want to participate in a clinical trial. Not everyone is up for being experimented on.
There will always be side effect that are not aware of yet, but the doctors are always there.