What is the Mesothelioma Clinical Trial Digest (“Meso Digest”)?

The Mesothelioma Clinical Trial Digest or “Meso Digest” is the only publication worldwide that collects and summarizes in a user-friendly, “digest” format all active clinical trials for the treatment of pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. To remain as current and accurate as possible, the Meso Digest is updated and revised four times per year with a new edition available in the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

Why do we publish the Meso Digest?

We publish the Meso Digest because we know that finding treatment for mesothelioma can be a confusing and challenging process. Some of the most promising treatments for mesothelioma are available only through clinical trials. Clinical trials are research trials conducted in order for progress to be made in treatment of patients with cancer. Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer and as such research has long been underfunded and overlooked by governments and organizations. The best hope for a cure for mesothelioma is through participation in clinical trials.

By providing the Meso Digest, our goal is to make patients and families more aware of clinical trials for mesothelioma and by doing that increase participation, thereby contributing to advances in patient care and ultimately a cure.

By creating the Meso Digest, we hope that some of the barriers to participation will be lowered.

What information will I find in the Meso Digest?

The Meso Digest contains information about all clinical trials available for patients with malignant peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma. All of the information regarding the clinical trials is from www.clinicaltrials.gov . If you go to that website, you will see that there are hundreds of clinical trials listed for “mesothelioma”. However, not all of those clinical trials are “active”. For example, some are completed and some are not recruiting yet. With the Meso Digest, we have simplified the process for you by creating a “digest” (or short summary) for each active clinical trial for pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. We have summarized the the most important information for each clinical trial as follows:

• Name of Study: Sometimes the titles are long and confusing- do not let that stop you!

• Study Type: There are two main types of clinical studies: clinical trials (also called interventional studies) and observational studies. In a clinical trial, participants receive specific interventions according to the research plan or protocol created by the investigator. In an observational study, investigators assess health outcomes in groups of participants according to a research plan or protocol.

• Purpose: To explain the purpose of each clinical trial, for many of the clinical trials we have used the words directly from the protocols themselves on clinicaltrials.gov

• Status: We answer questions such as: Is the study open for participation yet? When did it open? When do the researchers expect to complete it? How many patients do the researchers expect to enroll?

• Location: The location of the principal investigator and the hospital or centers who are participating.

• Contact: We let you know who to contact if you are interested and how to make contact.

We are hoping that by being aware of what clinical trials are available it might make it easier to enroll.

Contact us now to receive the current edition of the Meso Digest either in electronic or hard copy book form. We truly hope that the Meso Digest is helpful to you in your mesothelioma journey.