Immunotherapy and Radiation Therapy: Treating Mesothelioma with Avelumab and SBRT

Treating Mesothelioma with Avelumab and Radiation

During the trial, both pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma patients will participate in the receiving the FDA approved drug avelumab. Participants will also undergo SBRT.

Enrollees in the study will receive avelumab before they have SBRT treatment. Avelumab will be administered by an IV infusion every other week throughout the trial. After completing two doses of avelumab, patients will begin to experience short sessions of SBRT.

A typical SBRT session takes only 30 to 60 minutes. This form of radiation is usually completed over a span of 10 days. Many radiation oncologists have reported that their patients leave sessions free of pain and side effects.

Targeted Cancer Therapy: Is This Trial for You?

By using targeted cancer therapy, researchers will evaluate the safety of avelumab when combined with SBRT. They will also study the effect that radiation therapy can have on a patient’s immune system.

To be a successful candidate in this clinical trial, there are some criteria that a participant must meet.

Patient inclusions:

• Confirmed diagnosis of pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma
• No plans to participate in surgical removal of disease
• Participated in at least one round of first-line chemotherapy for mesothelioma

Patient exclusions:

• Receiving other investigational agents within 4 weeks of first treatment
• Previous participation in radiation therapy
• Treatment with a monoclonal antibody within 4 weeks of entering the study
• Participating in chemotherapy 3 weeks prior to study beginning

For more information about this study or any other recruiting clinical trials, please contact Mesothelioma Guide’s patient advocate Jenna Campagna. You can reach her at 888-385-2024 extension 102 or at jenna@mesotheliomaguide.com. You can even leave a message for Mesothelioma Guide via live chat now.

Meet the Lead Investigator

Head of the clinical trial is Dr. Andreas Rimner. Dr. Rimner is a radiation oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He sees nearly 400 patients a year that have been diagnosed with thoracic cancers, including malignant pleural mesothelioma.