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Navy Reservist’s Widow Prevails in Mesothelioma Hearing That Describes “Dusty, Dirty, Oily” Environment
The U.S. District Court of New Jersey heard riveting testimony in a mesothelioma hearing that saw the widow of a Navy reservist battling against Westinghouse and Foster Wheeler Energy. Though the two corporate giants tried to quash her claim and have it dismissed, the court sided with Linda Hammell, allowing her wrongful death claim to
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Canadian Pathologists Identify Distinct Immunohistochemistry in Malignant Mesothelioma Cells
Even individuals with a history of exposure to asbestos need to go through time-consuming testing processes before their symptoms can be diagnosed as malignant mesothelioma. This has been a source of frustration, since correct diagnosis is essential to ensuring that patients receive the right treatment. Now a team of Canadian pathologists has identified a distinction
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FDA Approves Combination Immunotherapy Treatment for Mesothelioma
For the first time in sixteen years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given its approval for a new, systemic treatment for malignant mesothelioma. The remarkable move came after the use of a combination of nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) treatments provided a more than twenty percent improvement in overall survival for patients
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Australian Study of New Drug Combination Shows Promise For Mesothelioma Patients
The use of immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy is among the most promising treatments being studied in the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. Results just reported from a multi-center study out of Australia have shown that a combination of durvalumab — a programmed cell death ligand 1 inhibitor — and a chemotherapy treatment of pemetrexed plus
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Mesothelioma Families Watch and Wait as Hoped-For Asbestos Ban Bill Stalls in Congress
People whose lives have been impacted by malignant mesothelioma and other related diseases have long pushed for a ban on asbestos, the carcinogenic mineral that causes these deadly conditions. Despite previously having strong bipartisan backing, a scheduled vote on a ban has been delayed in the House of Representatives after two separate issues have caused
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Parents Fear Mesothelioma Risk After Criminal Asbestos Charges Against School Officials
Malignant mesothelioma is a terminal disease caused by exposure to asbestos, and that exposure is almost always linked to the patient’s occupation. But in the face of an announcement from Pennsylvania’s Attorney General and State Police about criminal behavior on the part of Scranton School District officials, parents now have to worry about their children’s
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Mesothelioma Continues Its Reign in Montana
The state of Montana has many wonderful things to recommend it, but despite its beauty and wide-open spaces, it also lives in the shadow of asbestos-related diseases like malignant mesothelioma. Though it has been decades since the W. R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine stopped spewing asbestos into the air and the environment, people continue
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A Fitting Way to Mark Mesothelioma Awareness Day
Though Mesothelioma Awareness Day was officially marked on Saturday, September 26th, advocates for mesothelioma victims are hoping that this year’s real celebration will come on Tuesday, September 29th. That’s when the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2019.
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Naval Reservist’s Mesothelioma Death Blamed on Asbestos Gaskets
Arthur Hammell died of malignant mesothelioma more than fifty years after he enlisted in the Naval Reserves. Back in 1960, he’d known that military service involved risks, but he never dreamed his death would be the result of exposure to boilers installed on the vessels in which he served. Now his widow is seeking justice
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Could Trojan Horse Nanoparticles Hold the Key to Stopping Malignant Mesothelioma?
Malignant mesothelioma is one of several types of cancer that have proven particularly resistant to traditional cancer treatments, presenting significant challenges to physicians and leading to tragically short life expectancies after diagnosis. But a group of researchers from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have devised a novel approach that may hold the key to
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Italian Research Supports Neighborhood Lawsuits Against Asbestos Companies
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare and deadly form of cancer that is caused by exposure to asbestos. For years, victims of the disease have filed and won multi-million-dollar lawsuits against companies that placed profit over people’s health by including the carcinogenic material in their products despite its risks. Though most of those claims were filed
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FDA Approves Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Novel Mesothelioma Treatment
The quest for a safe and effective treatment for malignant mesothelioma got a boost this month when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it has accepted an application for a phase 1 clinical investigation of a new drug, ATA2271. The drug is ATA2271, a mesothelin targeting CAR T-cell therapy developed by Atara Biotherapeutics.
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Combination of Mesothelioma Immunotherapy Treatments to Be Tested By EMA
Mesothelioma researchers in the United States have been encouraged by the results of studies exploring the effect of combining two immunotherapy treatments — Opdivo (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilumumab) — on malignant pleural mesothelioma. Following preliminary results of this research, the European Medicines Agency has announced that they will be reviewing the research, and possibly approving
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Turkish Experts Quantify the Cost of Losing Lives to Malignant Mesothelioma
Malignant mesothelioma is a tragic terminal disease that robs its victims of their golden years. The rare form of cancer is caused by exposure to asbestos and manifests symptoms decades after this exposure takes place. While most United States mesothelioma victims are exposed to the carcinogenic material in the workplace, in Turkey there is so
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Louisiana Judge Rules That Previous Asbestos Settlements Don’t Rule Out Future Mesothelioma Lawsuits
Malignant mesothelioma is the deadliest disease caused by exposure to asbestos, but it is not the only one. People exposed to the carcinogenic material risk multiple asbestos-related illnesses, with most manifesting symptoms far earlier than mesothelioma. In a recent case heard in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana, survivors of a
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National Cancer Institute Shows Drug Combo Can Shrink Mesothelioma Tumors
For clinical study results to be considered significant they need to involve large numbers of participants, but with a rare illness like malignant mesothelioma, research by necessity often involves smaller pools of patients. A recent National Cancer Institute study included just ten patients but is still receiving positive attention: It revealed that those receiving a
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New Approach to Drug-Resistant Tumors Could Work for Mesothelioma Too
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Like many other solid tumors, it has proven to be particularly resistant to traditional treatment approaches. But an innovative dual-pronged attack being tested on the most common types of solid tumors may hold the key to improved outcomes.
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FDA Approves Application for Phase 1 Study of Novel Mesothelioma Treatment
Though physicians treating malignant mesothelioma work hard to extend their patients’ survival and improve their quality of life, the treatments currently available have proven no match for the challenging, fatal form of cancer. Researchers are turning to next-generation treatments using state-of-the-art technology, and the latest of these, a T-cell immunotherapy treatment, just received FDA approval
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As Mesothelioma Diagnoses Rise in 9/11 First Responders, Millions are Withheld from FDNY Health Program
On the 19th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the head of the FDNY 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program has revealed that nearly $4 million has been siphoned away from the program, which treats firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses like mesothelioma and other cancers. According
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Mesothelioma Advocates Take Positive View of Lawsuit Against EPA
It has been decades since the Environmental Protection Agency first acknowledged that asbestos causes malignant mesothelioma and other illnesses, yet in all that time the agency has failed to ban its use. Advocates had hoped that would change under the authority granted to the agency in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), but it still
