Industries and organizations that benefit from the continued mining and use of chrysotile asbestos regularly minimize the risks associated with the carcinogen via disinformation, the selective use of scientific data and policy influence, according to a new report. An...
read moreTargovax’s Mesothelioma Candidate Shines in Latest Survival Data
An immunotherapy candidate for mesothelioma continues to show promise in clinical trials, even before the trial has reached the halfway mark. Norwegian pharmaceutical company Targovax announced updated results Feb. 23 from its ongoing testing of ONCOS-102, a product...
read moreJ&J Reserves Nearly $4 Billion for Talc-Based Lawsuits
Manufacturing giant Johnson & Johnson has amassed a nearly $4 billion legal reserve to handle thousands of lawsuits, many claiming that its talcum powder products were tainted with asbestos, according to a regulatory filing. The company announced that its consumer...
read moreProposed Talcum Powder Class-Action Suit Moves to Appeals Court
A planned class-action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and Bausch Health over alleged contaminants in their talcum powders — including asbestos — is going to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. An attorney representing the plaintiffs — Louisa Gutierrez and...
read moreOSHA Proposed Rules Look To Revise Asbestos Danger Labels
Asbestos importers and removal firms would have to change their danger labels for the carcinogen under a recent federal proposal. A proposed rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — a federal agency devoted to workplace safety — looks to rework...
read moreResearcher Awarded $2.5 Million to Develop Immunotherapy Response Test
A planned study on immunotherapy’s effectiveness in mesothelioma cases got a major cash infusion this week, with the National Cancer Institute agreeing to shell out $2.5 million on the experimental research. Dr. Bryan Burt, who heads up the Baylor College of...
read moreEPA Shelves Risk Evaluation Model That Guided First Asbestos Review
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is owning up to problems with its current approach to risk evaluations — as exemplified in the outcry over its 2020 asbestos review — and pledging to base future evaluations on “the best scientific data.” In a Feb. 16 release,...
read moreFDA to Fast Track Norwegian Firm’s Mesothelioma Candidate
The Food and Drug Administration has granted a potential mesothelioma treatment special status to hasten its approval process. A candidate biologic for first-line treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma — the most common form of the deadly disease — has been given...
read moreGenetic Expression Could Aid Diagnosis of Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma
Genetic testing may be the key to distinguishing an unusually aggressive and sneaky type of mesothelioma from an unrelated condition. Chinese researchers have found that a protein emitted by the GATA3 gene is frequently detected in sarcomatoid malignant mesothelioma,...
read moreMutated Gene Could Predict Chemoresistance in Mesothelioma Patients
Mesothelioma’s frequent resistance to chemotherapy may be tied to a genetic mutation in some patients, according to a recent study. Researchers from Switzerland and Germany concluded that pleural mesothelioma patients with a mutated or missing BAP-1 gene all...
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