H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center

Dear Mr. Worthington:

Thank you for [your] letter of April 7, 1997 inquiring about the mesothelioma treatment program here at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. We have a great deal of interest in this malignancy and have a team of physicians who work closely in evaluating and treating patients with mesothelioma in a multi-disciplinary setting. Dr. Jack Ruckedeschel, the Center Director of Moffitt, is the thoracic oncologist who heads our team, along with Dr. Henry Wagner, our thoracic radiation oncologist. Dr. Eric Sommers and I are the thoracic surgeons involved. There are other thoracic oncologists involved who also have a great deal of interest in this disease.

Our approach to mesothelioma has been an aggressive treatment plan which involves radical surgery, such as your clients Mr. Delzer and Mr. Klingenstein underwent recently, called an extrapleural pneumonectomy. Patients who appear to have the disease localized to one side of the chest and who are in otherwise reasonable physical condition are felt to be candidates for this surgery. However, we feel that post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy, as well as radiotherapy in selected individuals, is very important and offers a better chance for long term survival and potential cure. In addition to using conventional surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, we have under development more novel gene therapy strategies which we hope to bring into the clinical arena for patient trials in the near future. We also gladly evaluate and treat patients who are not operative candidates and employ a multi-disciplinary chemotherapy and radiotherapy approach in their care. In other words, we see and aggressively treat the entire spectrum of mesothelioma patients here at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

I have enclosed a brochure which describes the Thoracic Oncology Multi-disciplinary Program here in which we have a team approach for treating all thoracic malignancies including, of course, lung cancer and mesothelioma. We are quite willing to see any patient or review any clinical material from any patient who wishes to obtain our opinion regarding therapy for this malignancy.

Thank you for your interest in the mesothelioma program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. I hope to have an opportunity to talk with you at the upcoming International Mesothelioma Interest Group in Philadelphia next month. With best regards,

Sincerely,
Lary A. Robinson, M.D.

* * * * * * * *

Dr. Lary A. Robinson can be reached at:
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
12902 Magnolia Dr.
Suite 3157-I
Tampa, FL 33612
Phone: 813-972-4673
Fax: 813-972-8468

The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute was just named an NCI designated Cancer Treatment Center. It's part of the University of South Florida in Tampa, and is the youngest center ever to receive NCI designation. There are only 57 of them in the country.

(Excerpt from the Moffitt News Release dated Sept. 29, 1997)