Clinical Trials for Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Involving the Erlotinib Drug

Posted by clinicaltrialsformesothelioma on July 25, 2011 1 comment

Mesothelioma clinical trials are extremely important, because they are able to prove the benefits and the effectiveness of a certain drug or medical procedure (such as chemotherapy) in treating forms of cancer. There is one current trial available entitled “Erlotinib in Treating Patients with Malignant Mesothelima of the Lung”, where patients are welcome to enroll and make a difference in the lives of millions of others struggling with the disease.

Erlotibnib is a drug which his used to treat lung or pancreatic cancer, as well as other types of cancers in the human organism. Erlotinib is basically a drug which might interfere with the growth of tumor cells, and it actually helps slow down the growth of these tumors. There are several objectives that this study is looking forward to achieve:

Determining the 1 year survival rate in patients suffering from malignant pleural mesothelioma who use as main form of medication the Erlotinib
Measuring the response rate of patients treated with the drug
Measuring the frequency and the severity of the negative side effects caused by this drug. Some of the most frequent side effects include rashes, loss of appetite, diarrhea, chronic fatigue, or partial hair loss. The fewer the side effects patients develop, the better the chances for tolerability of the drug. This implicitly means that there is a greater rate of success in patients and they are able to take the drug for longer periods.

Clinical trials for mesothelioma have all a common purpose: that of helping the patient obtain a better quality of life while struggling with the disease and offering an effective treatment for the different types of cancer.