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After Multiple Mesothelioma Lawsuits, Prop 65 Claim Filed Against Johnson & Johnson & Others
With new mesothelioma and ovarian cancers being filed every day against Johnson & Johnson and other talc product manufacturers, a new legal attack has been launched under California’s Prop65 law. A lawsuit has been filed accusing Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Gold Bond talc powder, manufacturers of generic talc products and retailers of failing
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Mesothelioma Researchers Remain Uncertain About Combining Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy
In the face of a disease as challenging as malignant mesothelioma, it is easy to understand why patients and physicians alike would be tempted to use every available tool to bombard the cancer’s cells in the hopes of eradicating it or extending survival time. Unfortunately, what feels like it makes the most sense may not
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Are Mesothelioma Patients Leaving An Effective Treatment on the Table?
Many patients diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma are skipping or abandoning a treatment protocol that could extend their lives by several months, and researchers from MD Anderson are trying to determine why. The protocol is Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), a type of targeted radiation that sends powerful radiotherapy beams directly into malignant tumors, leaving surrounding tissue
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Researchers Express Fears That Superbugs Could Impact Mesothelioma Treatment
As mesothelioma researchers search for the best possible combination of treatments to slow and stop the spread of the rare and always-fatal form of cancer, oncologists in the United Kingdom and United States are raising fears that all of their efforts could be foiled by the rise of “superbugs” that would remove chemotherapy as a
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Mesothelioma Risk Drives Fire Department Diligence
Name the occupations that are naturally associated with heroism and courage and firefighter is likely to top the list, but when asked to name the risks associated with firefighting, few people are likely to come up with malignant mesothelioma. Yet firefighters are at far greater risk for the rare asbestos-related form of cancer than the
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New York Mesothelioma Lawsuit Pits Con Ed Against Family of Deceased Backhoe Operator
A mesothelioma lawsuit that’s making its way through the New York Asbestos Litigation courts is pitting the family of a deceased backhoe operator against the legal power of Consolidated Edison, and the victim’s family has won the first round.
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UK Researchers Validate Pleural Mesothelioma Grading System
As medical science learns more about malignant mesothelioma, the frustrations in treating the illness have grown. Though more is understood about the condition and its causes, its prognosis remains poor, with overall survival hovering between 9 and 12 months for most patients. Among those eligible for surgical interventions, the median survival increases to between ten
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Mesothelioma Victim Blames Movie Equipment for Asbestos Exposure
When a person is diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma or any other asbestos-related disease, one of the first things they do is try to figure out how they got sick: where did their asbestos exposure come from. In the case of Christine Slonim, the answer to that question remained a mystery until she and her husband
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Baylor Mesothelioma Center Adds Take-Home Tumor Treating Fields Device to Treatment
In a nod to their hopes for the new FDA-approved medical device, physicians from Baylor College of Medicine and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center are sending mesothelioma patients home with the NovoTTF-110L. The device is the first mesothelioma treatment that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved in more than fifteen years.
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New Jersey Jury’s $186 Million Mesothelioma Award Driven By CEO Testimony
The New Jersey jury that punished Johnson & Johnson with a $186 million mesothelioma punitive damages decision was likely swayed by testimony from the company’s CEO, Alex Gorsky. In that testimony, the company head appeared out of the loop with reference to the safety of the company’s talc-based products, despite his remarkable level of compensation.
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Biopharmaceutical Company Partners With Memorial Sloan Kettering for Mesothelioma Test
A clinical biopharmaceutical company has announced that it is partnering with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on a new clinical study looking at the impact of its drug in the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. The company, SELLAS Life Sciences Group, focuses on novel cancer immunotherapies, and the test will look at combining its immunotherapeutic
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Study of Women With Mesothelioma Reveals Valuable Information About Exposures
A study of 354 women diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma has revealed valuable information about the differences in how the disease manifests in women compared with men, as well as about how the majority of women are exposed to the asbestos that caused their disease.
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Mesothelioma Victims Win $750 Million Punitive Damages Battle Against Johnson & Johnson
A New Jersey jury awarded several mesothelioma victims a $750 million punitive damages award, agreeing with their assertion that Johnson & Johnson’s had been reckless in allowing asbestos to contaminate their talc-based baby powder product. The victims have already won a $37.3 million compensatory damages verdict. The award is a powerful message of punishment to
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Promising New Chemotherapy Protocol for Unresectable Peritoneal Mesothelioma
When a patient is diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, they’re generally given a better prognosis than those diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. Peritoneal mesothelioma impacts the abdominal cavity rather than the thoracic cavity that holds the lungs, and generally responds best to a combination of surgery and heated chemotherapy poured directly into the surgical cavity. The exception
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Italian Study Finds No Decline in Incidence of Mesothelioma
Nearly thirty years after the Italian government took action to ban the use of asbestos, researchers from the University of Pavia have determined that – as of yet – the ban has had no impact on the incidence of malignant mesothelioma.
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Mesothelioma Lawsuits Against Talc Companies Continue
More than 15,000 lawsuits have been filed against cosmetic talc companies, talc suppliers and others that have been accused of causing consumers’ malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases by exposing them to asbestos. The companies continue to argue against their liability, denying that their talc was contaminated by the carcinogen, and courts continue to allow
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UK Agency Urges Asbestos Training to Protect Against Mesothelioma
The United Kingdom has been hard hit by malignant mesothelioma, the rare and fatal form of cancer cause by exposure to asbestos. The nation has a significant amount of buildings that are contaminated with the carcinogenic material, and as a result tradesmen and women continue to be put at risk, despite the fact that the
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Roofer’s Widow Defeats Asbestos Company’s Bid to Escape Mesothelioma Lawsuit
Despite asbestos being an acknowledged carcinogen, companies whose products contain the toxic material continue to fight lawsuits filed by mesothelioma victims and others they’ve injured. Their primary method of argument is to deny both that asbestos victims actually used their product, and that the asbestos in their products was the proximate cause of their illness.
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Israeli Blood Test Could Confirm Mesothelioma in Hours
An Israeli company has developed a new type of liquid biopsy that could confirm a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma in a matter of hours. Much of the challenge of treating mesothelioma lies in the fact that it is most often diagnosed when it is very far advanced, and the promise of a fast and simple blood
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Study Suggests Low-Dose CT Screening For Those At Risk for Mesothelioma
Construction workers, factory and shipyard workers, veterans and untold numbers of others are at risk for malignant mesothelioma as a result of having been exposed to asbestos. Because the rare and deadly form of cancer has such a long latency period, these men and women are forced to live with a cloud of anxiety, worrying
