The outcomes of the Phase I clinical trial indicate that patients on pemetrexed, as opposed to those on other current chemotherapy treatments, can tolerate higher doses of the drug along with simultaneous radiation therapy. The combination of the elevated doses and the radiation treatments increases the strength of the therapeutic regimen.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved pemetrexed as a treatment for pleural mesothelioma, a form of cancer that strikes the soft tissue around the lungs. Pemetrexed also has an accepted role in caring for patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. The drug's chemical makeup is related to folic acid (also known as Vitamin B9) and precludes the shaping of a cell's DNA and RNA into malignant cancer cells.
Researchers at the Centre Hospitalier Lyon Sud in Lyon, France, conducted the Phase I trial. Dr. Francoise Mornex, director of the hospital's Department of Radiotherapy Oncology, led the study. Dr. Mormex mentioned that he and his coworkers also used cisplatin, another chemotherapy drug used to treat mesothelioma patients, combined with radiation therapy to treat patients with Stage III lung cancer that had not yet metastasized.
