Earlier this month at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), researchers presented findings from a phase three clinical trial that the drug ranpirnase added to the drug doxorubicin improves survival in pretreated patients with malignant mesothelioma.

Dr. Martin Reck, MD, Hospital Grosshansdorf, Hamburg, Germany, and colleagues compared the efficacy and safety of doxorubicin with or without ranpirnase. They studied 413 patients that had unresectable malignant mesothelioma. The patients were allowed to have up to 1 previous line of treatment and the mean age was approximately 62 years. The study found no real difference in survival rates among patients who received both drugs and patients who received one drug and a placebo. However, in a preplanned analysis of 130 patients who had been pretreated with chemotherapy, a significant advantage in survival in favor of doxorubicin plus ranpirnase was noted, with a median survival of 10.5 months for ranpirnase versus 9 months for placebo.

No adverse safety issues were observed with the addition of ranpirnase and researchers concluded that the treatment is safe and feasible and may result in a significant impact on survival compared with doxorubicin alone for pretreated patients.