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MARF Executive Director Chris Hahn reports on ASCO
2002, an international meeting of cancer experts and
approximately 20,000 cancer researchers and clinicians. This
year, mesothelioma was prominently featured. Highlights of
the conference include study results from a drug combination
which "should now be considered standard front-line
therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma."
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The American Society of Clinical Oncology held its
38th annual meeting in Orlando, Florida May 18-21.
Leading cancer experts and approximately 20,000 cancer
researchers and clinicians from around the globe attended.
MARF occupied a booth in the exhibit hall in order to let
practicing oncologists know about its work, to publicize its
grant program and the clinical database it is launching, as
well as to make and strengthen key contacts, including drug
company representatives and mesothelioma researchers.
This year a very encouraging amount of scientific attention
at ASCO was devoted to mesothelioma. In fact, one of the four
major, plenary presentations was devoted to a new
mesothelioma drug. Before an audience of several
thousand, Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang (head of the
University of Chicago Cancer Research Center and member of
MARF's Board of Directors) presented the results of the
largest Phase III clinical trial ever conducted in malignant
mesothelioma.
This trial compared cisplatin plus a new drug, pemetrexed
(Alimta), to cisplatin alone in 448 pleural malignant
mesothelioma patients. While the results would not be
considered a "home run," there was a significant
benefit in the pemetrexed/cisplatin patients, such that Dr.
Vogelzang concludes that the combination "should now
be considered standard front-line therapy for malignant
pleural mesothelioma."
Click
here for a full description of the Phase
III Single-Blinded Study Of Pemetrexed + Cisplatin Vs.
Cisplatin Alone In Chemonaive Patients With Malignant Pleural
Mesothelioma, as transcribed from MARF Executive Director
Chris Hahn.
The ASCO conference also included a session where several
hundred oncologists heard about "Malignant Mesothelioma:
New Biological and Clinical Advances." Dr. Michele
Carbone, of Loyola University Medical Center, gave a very
helpful and up-to-date presentation on the basics of
mesothelioma pathology, and also discussed his work in
mesothelioma genetics. Dr. Hedy Lee Kindler, University of
Chicago Medical Center and MARF Science Advisory Board
member, briefly ran through the general results of the
various chemotherapies, showing the basis for a new, cautious
optimism. And Dr. Valerie Rusch, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, provided a very current overview on the status
of diagnosis, staging and locoregional therapy of
mesothelioma. T
Click
here for a full description of Malignant
Mesothelioma: New Biological and Clinical Advances, as
transcribed by MARF Executive Director Chris Hahn.
** POSTED MAY 31, 2002
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