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Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer News - Return to Menu
SOLBEC TO COMMENCE PRE-CLINICAL STUDY TO CONFIRM PRELIMINARY FINDING OF IMMUNITY TO MESOTHELIOMA
Perth, Australia. 3rd February 2005. Solbec Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SBP) has announced the commencement of a pre-clinical study to confirm and extend the findings of an earlier investigation into the effect of Coramsine·combined with CpG in the treatment of murine mesothelioma. The study will be carried out by the Tumour Immunology Group at the University of Western Australia. The study is comprised of four key experiments, The outcomes of the four (4) groups of experiments within the study will be used to inform decisions regarding any future clinical trials of Coramsine·CpG in patients with cancer.
SOLBEC CANCER DRUG INDUCES TOTAL REMISSION OF MESOTHELIOMA IN MICE
Perth, Australia. 23 November 2004. Solbec Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SBP) today announced that its cancer drug, Coramsine· is effective in both treating, and from preliminary results, preventing, mesothelioma in a mouse model of the cancer.
Treatment with Coramsine·in combination with the immune triggering compound, CpG, gave total remission of the mesothelioma. This was a much greater response than that seen with either agent on its own. The combination therapy was used to maximize the immunological effect of Coramsine·
SOLBEC REPORTS PROGRESS IN PHASE I TRIAL IN PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED CANCER
Perth, Australia. 15th February 2005. Solbec Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SBP) today announced that it had completed a second stage of its Phase I trial of Coramsine·in the treatment of advanced solid tumours.
Solbec's first Phase I clinical trial commenced at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in December 2003. The trial recruited patients with advanced refractory solid tumours and set out to investigate safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics, while identifying the maximum tolerated dose of Coramsine·given as a 2-hour infusion. As a secondary endpoint, the efficacy of Coramsine·treatment was to be assessed (the standard definition for efficacy in cancer trials is a reduction in tumour volume of 50% or greater).
Emerging Mesothelioma Treatments
Because mesothelioma is a newly publicized disease, many doctors may have a hard time diagnosing and treating it. Depending on the stage of the disease, the most common treatments are surgical removal of the affected tissues, chemotherapy, or radiation. There is some concern that research into mesothelioma will be minimal, because it is projected to be a short-lived disease in terms of new cases after the next 30 years. However, new research is consistently providing physicians with alternate forms of therapy, and there are many intense studies into control and cure of the disease, so those diagnosed with mesothelioma do have many options and a lot of hope.
Photodynamic therapy is a new approach to treating mesothelioma cancer and is based on using light to kill the cancer cells. In photodynamic therapy, a drug is first administered intravenously that targets and renders the cancerous cells more sensitive in a number of days. The drug is easily eliminated by normal cells, ensuring that they will not be harmed when light therapy is given. After the cells have been given the proper time of exposure to the drug, a special frequency of light laser beams are directed towards the mesothelioma cancer with the intent to eradicate it from the body without having to use more invasive methods. Although there are occasional cases of eye sensitivity and nausea and/or vomiting, the main side effect of photodynamic therapy is skin sensitivity after the procedure is completed.
More information on photodynamic therapy can be found on new Web site, Mesothelioma Help The Web site contains several informative articles, including a primer on emerging treatments for mesothelioma.
The Web site was a joint product of Orbis Marketing and Jimandi Corp. Said editor Jimmy Atkinson, "We wanted to make a site that can actually help those coping with mesothelioma, rather than just another 'A-OK #1 Spam' site. This is a hard thing to face, and it's sad to see ambulance-chasers dominating this field. We aim to change that with Mesothelioma Help."
Orbis Marketing is a privately held company based in Los Angeles, California. For more information, please visit orbis marketing.com . Visit Jimandi Corp at dot marketer.com . Visit Mesothelioma Help at meso help.net .
American Cancer Society offers support and hope
December 29, 2005 - Dana Reeve's diagnosis of lung cancer and the passing of Peter Jennings are reminders that people have questions about the disease, and many smokers are looking for ways to quit. The American Cancer Society offers support and hope for people diagnosed with lung cancer and their families as well as resources to help smokers quit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including its own Quitline, which since its launch in May 2000 has provided services to more than 100,000 callers. For more information, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
According to the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts and Figures 2005, it is estimated that 4,010 new cases of lung and bronchus cancer will be diagnosed in Massachusetts this year, and sadly, close to 3,800 will die. Lung cancer does occur in people who have never smoked, even though cigarette smoking is by far the biggest risk factor for lung cancer in the U.S., causing an estimated 80 percent of lung cancers in women and 90 percent in men.
"The Commonwealth would prevent 34,250 children alive today from starting to smoke and save 10,960 of them from a premature, smoking-caused death if it funded a tobacco prevention and cessation program at minimum levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," said Anne Kelly Contini, senior vice president for the American Cancer Society in Massachusetts. "While Massachusetts receives more than $700 million in tobacco-related revenue each year, less than one percent of that money is spent on programs that will help people quit smoking and keep kids from ever starting." Once a national model for tobacco control, Massachusetts has stripped funding for tobacco prevention and cessation from $48 million in fiscal year 2002 to merely $4.25 million in the fiscal year 2006 budget. The CDC recommended minimum funding for tobacco prevention in Massachusetts is $35.2 million. The best way for the Commonwealth to help reduce the incidence of lung cancer illness and death is to reinvest in existing, proven tobacco control programs.
"Progress against lung cancer will require further efforts to prevent cigarette smoking as well as advances in early detection and treatment. The good news is per capita consumption is now at the lowest level since World War II and that lung cancer death rates have fallen 17 percent in men from 1990 to 2002," said Michael J. Thun, MD, the Society's vice president of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research. "With 46 million former smokers in the U.S. and the inevitability that some people who have never smoked will develop lung cancer, continued research into early detection and into ways of improving targeted therapy, which has shown promise in some select groups, remain very important." In New England alone, there is more than $3 million invested in lung cancer research, and nationwide, the American Cancer Society has 73 grants in effect representing an investment of more than $40 million.
Every day, almost 1,200 people die in the United States as a result of tobacco use, and 8.6 million people in this country suffer from smoking related chronic conditions. These illnesses and these premature deaths can be prevented. The single greatest commitment one can make to a life of health is not starting to smoke in the first place. If you are young, don't smoke. If you do, the chances are 1 in 2 that you will die of a disease related to smoking. If you do smoke, stopping can have almost immediate beneficial effects on your health, and over time your risk of developing lung cancer does decrease. For more information on how you can quit smoking, or if you'd like more information on lung cancer, call the American Cancer Society 24 hours, 7 days a week toll-free at 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide, community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. For more information call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.
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