Month: October 2012
Mesothelioma Patients May Have Greater Access To Care Under Proposed Medicare Legal Settlement
Patients with mesothelioma and other chronic diseases and conditions may have improved care, as part of a proposed change of Medicare policy. Under a proposed legal settlement of a landmark class-action lawsuit, Medicare would start covering the costs of certain treatments for those patients with long-term diseases who need skilled services simply to maintain or slow their deterioration regardless of the underlying illness.
For years, thousands of mesothelioma patients and other Medicare beneficiaries with incurable diseases have been denied needed care based on the grounds that their condition was “not improving.” Medicare advocates said the “improvement” standard seemed to lead to cutting off physical, occupational and speech therapy for patients who had reached a plateau in their treatment.
The application of the standard is particularly devastating for patients with advanced cancers, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis and other degenerative diseases who are not going to improve and are seeking simply to hold onto their health and slow the effects of a disease.
According to an article in The New York Times, the proposed settlement, once approved by a federal district judge, will lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service to rewrite the Medicare benefits manual to delete suggestions that a patient’s receipt of Medicare coverage depends on the patient continuing to show improvement. The new policy would state that Medicare will cover skilled nursing care and therapy services needed for a patient to maintain their health.
Medicare provides up to 100 days of coverage per benefit period. The settlement confirms that Medicare is available for skilled nursing and therapy that is needed to maintain a person’s condition or prevent slow deterioration, for nursing home, home health and outpatient therapy.
According to the Center for Medicare Advocacy, a party to the lawsuit, the settlement is NOT limited to particular conditions or diseases. It applies to anyone who requires skilled services, regardless of the underlying illness, disability or injury.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a nationwide class of Medicare beneficiaries by six individuals and seven national organizations representing people with chronic conditions.
Mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, strikes 2,500 to 3,000 people a year in the United States. Symptoms of mesothelioma take 20 years to 50 years to appear. As a result, people diagnosed with mesothelioma are typically older workers, retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos dust in a workplace or during military service. While the disease takes decades to appear, it advances rapidly once it is diagnosed.
Still Time to Make a Donation for Mesothelioma Research Through the American Cancer Society’s Rappelling Fundraiser
New York mesothelioma attorney Jessica Russell of Belluck & Fox, LLP took the plunge in September in the first-ever “Over the Edge” rappel for cancer event in Jersey City, New Jersey, to raise funds for mesothelioma research. Sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the event, where participants rappelled nearly 500 feet down the side of a 34-story high-rise, raised over $271,000 for cancer research. The American Cancer Society has announced that this year’s event website is still active, and it is not too late to donate to the cause.
Although Russell, an attorney at Belluck & Fox, LLP who focuses on the firm’s asbestos and mesothelioma cases, was first alerted about the event as a joke from her husband who knew she was “dreadfully” afraid of heights, she took on the challenge after she thought of all of her clients “whose lives were cut short due to a disease that was completely avoidable.”
Pleural mesothelioma, a pulmonary cancer caused by past exposure to asbestos, is aggressive and requires equally aggressive treatments to combat the disease. Nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease each year. Currently, there is no known cure for mesothelioma, but researchers continue to conduct studies and clinical trials to find a new, effective treatment.
Buoyed by this year’s success, the American Cancer Society is reaching out to this year’s rappellers to repeat their daredevil stunt next year. Using the teaser, “if you have friends who are jealous of you and want to participate next year (or if you want to do it again!), please encourage them to sign up,” the organizers hope to surpass this year’s fundraising efforts.
Once may have been enough for Russell. “While I do not see myself signing up to jump off of any more buildings any time soon, I did appreciate that this event was unique in that it was more of a personal challenge, which drove me to appreciate what we were all working toward,” said Russell.
See the initial article on Russell’s adventure.
New Cancer Fighting Drug Available to Mesothelioma Patients
A new cancer fighting drug is available to newly-diagnosed mesothelioma patients as part of a clinical trial at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Parkash Gill, an oncologist who supervises the mesothelioma laboratory at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, announced this month that the cancer fighting drug EPH-B4 is available to qualifying patients who have not undergone any conventional treatment and to patients who have exhausted other treatment options such as chemotherapy and surgery.
Due to the role that the EphB4 protein plays in the transition of benign tumors into a malignant state, Gill has focused much of his research on developing EphB4-specific antibodies that have been shown to significantly interfere with blood vessel formation and reduce the size of tumors in animal experiments.
Gill said the drug has shown great promise as a solo treatment and in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs such as Alimta, Cisplatin and Carboplatin. It has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a phase I clinical trial.
Gill and a team of researchers reported in the American Journal of Pathology that that drug inhibited the development of malignant tumors by interfering with the sprouting of new bloods vessels from existing vessels.
The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America, which is supporting Gill’s research, provides funding to find a cure for mesothelioma.
Doctors diagnose approximately 2,500 to 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma in the United States each year. Most mesothelioma sufferers are older workers, retired workers and veterans who inhaled cancer-causing asbestos fibers in workplaces decades ago. Asbestos can trigger respiratory problems and growth of cancerous tumors 20 to 50 years after breathing or swallowing the microscopic fibers.
To contact Dr. Gill about the clinical trial, click here.
Mesothelioma Advocates Invited to Attend the Conference on Rare Diseases and Orphan Products
DIA and the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) have announced the program for the US Conference on Rare Diseases and Orphan Products to be held Oct. 22-24 at the Capitol Hilton, Washington, D.C. With the motto, “Shaping the Future Now,” organizers invite all stakeholders – patients, patient organizations, researchers, drug and device companies, investors, thought leaders and government – to come together for three days to focus on rare diseases and orphan product research, development and access. In the United States, there are close to 7,000 rare or orphan diseases, including mesothelioma, thyroid cancer and cerebral palsy, affecting close to 30 million Americans.
The conference, organized in collaboration with FDA, NIH, EURORDIS, and the Duke Department of Pediatrics, will discuss the challenges facing orphan product development and access. In a press release announcing the program, Peter L. Saltonstall, President and CEO of NORD said, “This vital meeting will provide important information for everyone living with a rare disease or working in orphan product development.”
The conference will offer sessions focusing on three primary themes: research and regulation; risk tolerance for the rare disease patient; and special challenges in rare diseases. Topics include the current and emerging drug development environment, reenactment of the Prescription Drug and Medical Device User Fee Act, and an update on NIH’s new National Center Advancing Translational Science.
NORD is a non-profit organization that receives no government funding and relies entirely on private donations. The organization offers vital services to the public through providing information about rare diseases, referrals to patient organizations, research grants and fellowships, advocacy for the rare-disease community, and Medication Assistance Programs that help needy patients obtain certain drugs they could not otherwise afford.
In the United States, an orphan disease status is assigned to a disease or disorder if it affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time. Mesothelioma is diagnosed in close to 3,000 Americans each year, with just as many dying from the disease.
Mesothelioma representatives interested in attending the conference can register on DIA’s website.
Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise For Pleural Mesothelioma Patients
A new cancer vaccine that may stimulate the immune system of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma is entering a new round of clinical testing after promising preliminary results.
The vaccine maker, Aduro BioTech, Inc., announced this month the enrollment of the first patient in a Phase 1B clinical trial for the vaccine CRS-207. Medical researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa are participating in the trial.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the chest cavity caused by exposure to asbestos. Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the U.S. Most are older workers, retired workers and veterans exposed to airborne asbestos fibers at a workplace decades ago. Mesothelioma takes decades to appear after exposure, but then advances rapidly.
The human immune system is a key line of defense against mesothelioma tumors if medical researchers can harness it to attack cancer cells, using immunotherapy. The vaccine was created using genetically modified strains of Listeria, a common food-borne pathogen known to produce a potent immune response. Researchers at Aduro BioTech engineered the pathogen to make it safe for use as the vehicle for therapeutic vaccines.
An earlier trial using the vaccine showed promising results in prolonging the lives of patients with advanced cancer. While patients with end-stage cancer typically live only three to five months, six of 17 patients who received the vaccine in the initial trial lived 15 months or longer, according to results recently published in the medical journal, Clinical Cancer Research.
As part of the new trial, mesothelioma patients will receive two prime vaccinations with CRS-207 followed by treatment with the standard chemotherapy drugs, pemetrexed and cisplatin.
“This trial will evaluate our vaccine treatment for the first time in frontline cancer patients, and we predict a synergistic benefit to their standard chemotherapy,” said Dr. Dirk Brockstedt, senior vice president of research and development at Aduro.
The vaccine also is being evaluated in a randomized, Phase 2 trial involving patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
For more information about the clinical trial, visit ClinicalTrials.gov.
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