Last night, Dr. Tobias Peikert of the Mayo Clinic joined us on a conference call, as part of the Meso Foundation’s Meet the Experts series, to discuss an exciting new clinical trial. The trial, which uses the measles virus to attack the mesothelioma cells, is currently enrolling pleural mesothelioma patients regardless of whether they’ve undergone prior therapy. This is a Phase 1 trial, meaning that the goal of the trial is to determine the level of toxicity of the agent and to establish the optimal dose.
According to Dr. Peikert, the measles virus is particularly interesting in the treatment of cancers. Historically, the notion of using this virus came to scientists mostly by accident. They noticed that when people with cancer became ill with measles, their cancer nearly or all disappeared. As a result, the idea has already been used for some time with treatment of lymphoma and other hematologic cancers.
This trial has now been open for six months and is administered in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation conducts Meet the Experts conference calls every couple of months. To receive notifications of these calls, please sign up for news from the Meso Foundation.
The full podcast of the interview with Dr. Peikert is available on Meso Foundation’s website.
