Clinical Trials for Mesothelioma

Close to a hundred clinical research trials are actively recruiting patients across the United States. Talking with a mesothelioma specialist will narrow the options and focus on what new treatments are appropriate for you.

Clinical trials investigate new therapies and treatments that seek to improve the prognosis for cancer patients or possibly find a mesothelioma cure. In many cases, the trial sponsor covers the costs for investigative and experimental therapies.

Mesothelioma clinical trials offer the chance to receive the best treatment possible and test whether it is safe and effective for future patients. These programs test new medications or procedures not yet FDA-approved but may have better results than current options.

Some clinical trials work to develop the safety and effectiveness of new surgical procedures or medication combinations while reducing the risks. Other researchers focus on preventing mesothelioma from developing or finding ways to improve diagnostic methods, so physicians can detect and treat the disease sooner.

The best way to begin gathering information on appropriate clinical trials is to speak with your oncologist or mesothelioma specialist. They will provide you with information about clinical trials actively enrolling patients, and those that are relevant to you based on diagnosis and treatment history.

Research staff at hospitals and mesothelioma treatment centers can also assist you in compiling the information you need to make an informed decision and enroll in a trial.

Step 1: Explain Your Interest to Your Physician
Doing a small amount of research beforehand will inform your doctor what type of clinical trials you’re interested in and will help them guide you in the right direction. Based on mesothelioma treatments you’ve already undergone, specific clinical trials may be more appropriate based on the type of therapy you’d like to pursue.

Step 2: Obtain a Second Opinion from a Specialist
A research trial you’re interested in may only be available at limited locations or might not have any openings. Even if you are already seeing a mesothelioma specialist, getting a second opinion will provide you more clinical trial options and help you make an informed decision.

Step 3: Review the Trial Information
Once you’ve narrowed your options, it’s essential to review the literature you’ve collected on the details of the studies. Take the time to understand screening requirements and the activities you’re responsible for during participation. Reviewing the information with your family and loved ones may also help you make a final decision.

Step 4: Ask Questions and Enroll
Prepare your list of questions to discuss with the investigator or physician managing the trial. A final review of the study requirements and schedule of events will determine whether it is a good fit or the stress and risks outweigh the benefits. Once you’ve decided to proceed, the medical or research staff will guide you through the documentation for enrolling in the screening process.

The screening process is a phase in every clinical research trial to ensure that high-risk patients do not enroll in the study. Factors that may affect your eligibility include age and overall health, treatment history, type and stage of mesothelioma and underlying medical conditions.

Clinical trials test new and experimental therapies to test their effectiveness, so risk is inherently involved. Some side effects may occur that researchers have not observed recorded in other patients.

However, participation in a clinical trial usually comes with a higher frequency of tests and exams to determine if and when adverse events start to occur. In most cases, oncologists follow participants in research trials more closely than cancer patients on conventional treatment.

Research trials go through several phases over many years to determine safe and effective treatment before receiving FDA approval. The investigator will remove a participant from the study if cancer progresses and proceed with conventional care.

Unexpected side effects can occur during participation in a clinical trial. Depending on the type of study, there may be risks involved with medications, devices or new surgical methods. Clinical trials use placebos to determine if the experimental treatment causes side effects.

Cancer patients will always receive, at minimum, the best conventional therapy currently available for their disease.

Many mesothelioma immunotherapy medications are only available through clinical trials and have unique side effects. Common side effects of immunotherapy include:

A clinical research trial involving surgery may involve a longer healing time than conventional treatment. A new device to treat mesothelioma, such as Tumor Treating Fields, might cause skin irritation due to the use of adhesive arrays attached to the body.

Based on a patient’s medical history and previous treatments, investigators will determine if a patient is at a high risk of developing side effects associated with a study before their enrollment.

Mesothelioma clinical trial costs vary between patient, sponsor and health insurance provider and depend on different factors.

Clinical trial sponsors can be corporations, government agencies or privately funded groups. Government agencies and pharmaceutical companies usually pay for the majority of expenses related to investigational treatment, but funding can also come from universities and private investors.

One of the most successful treatments to come out of clinical trials in recent years is immunotherapy. Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is a newer medication that has helped mesothelioma patients live several years after their diagnosis.

Immunotherapy enhances the immune system’s response to cancer with potentially fewer side effects than more toxic chemotherapy medications. This therapy also includes treatments such as the CRS-207 and WT1 cancer vaccines, which have significantly increased survival in mesothelioma patients. CAR T-cell therapy is an exciting new treatment that modifies a patient’s immune cells to detect and eliminate cancer.

Pemetrexed (Alimta) and cisplatin is the standard chemotherapy for mesothelioma patients, but researchers are investigating a new drug that works in combination with these medications. Cediranib blocks the enzymes that allow pleural mesothelioma tumors to grow and may also restrict their access to blood flow, causing them to shrink.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a new form of mesothelioma radiation therapy that allows doctors to deliver high doses of radiation with less damage to healthy tissue. Research showed that IMRT significantly reduced the local recurrence of cancer near its original site.

Modifying your DNA to fight cancer might sound like science fiction, but doctors can now alter a patient’s genes to produce blood cells that can target and destroy tumors. Oncologists consider gene therapy as a possible alternative if patients do not respond well to traditional treatment.

In the future, gene therapy may allow scientists to reverse the damage done to DNA by asbestos or change the genetic structure of cancer cells to make them easier to kill. Hundreds of clinical trials are investigating the use of gene therapy for genetic conditions, cancer and HIV.

Clinical research has also advanced the field of medicine beyond medication and into the realm of technology. Robot-assisted surgery has become more commonplace, and surgeons now perform pleural mesothelioma surgeries with robotic assistance.

Tumor Treating Fields uses portable adhesive arrays to limit tumor growth, and the therapy became the newest first-line treatment approved by the FDA for mesothelioma in 2019. Diagnostic testing also benefits from clinical research trials, and doctors are identifying new biomarkers to detect and diagnose mesothelioma earlier from blood tests and annual screenings.

Participating in a clinical trial is a personal decision that only you can make. There are unidentified risks, and the treatments do not work for everyone. However, mesothelioma patients are benefiting from experimental therapies that are not available anywhere else.

Thanks to clinical trial participants, today’s innovative treatments will be the standard care for tomorrow’s mesothelioma survivors.