Patients are being recruited for a clinical trial of thalidomide in combination with chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer.

Previous research has shown that thalidomide can double the one year survival rate from small cell lung cancer from 21 per cent to 40 per cent. This is a welcome advance in a disease that is traditionally very hard to treat.

Accordingly, researchers for the leading charity Cancer Research UK are now to launch a further trial, that could give thalidomide eventual approval as a cancer therapy. Though once notorious for causing birth defects, thalidomide has proved its worth in cancer treatment by stopping growth of the tumor blood supply. It also stabilises the existing blood supply, which allows more effective delivery of chemotherapy into the tumor. What is more, thalidomide plays another role - in activating the immune system towards the tumor.

The new trial will compare thalidomide and chemotherapy with the results of chemotherapy alone. Even minor improvements could result in many lives being saved - for chemotherapy alone does produce a high rate of remission, but this is all too often followed by relapse.

Source

Cancer Research UK 27th January 2003