Makers of Potential Mesothelioma Treatment Seeks Orphan Drug Status (Part 1)

Today, Biopharmaceutical company Alfacell Corp. is asking the Food and Drug Administration to grant its lead drug candidate, Onconase, orphan drug status. Onconase is aimed at treating malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer where malignant cells are found in the chest, abdominal cavity lining or the lining around the heart. The drug is currently in its confirmatory phase 3b trial for the treatment of unresectable malignant mesothelioma.

The Food and Drug Administration's orphan-drug designation is for drugs that treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. If granted, the designation will give Onconase seven years of market exclusivity as a malignant mesothelioma treatment

For more information on malignant mesothelioma and Onconase, please visit:

• Asbestos Mesothelioma Resource for New York and New Jersey Residents
• Onconase: Potential Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment

Nation’s First Talc/Asbestos Mesothelioma Verdict

On November 22nd, Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP, Mesothelioma trial attorneys, announced the first-ever U.S. mesothelioma verdict connecting industrial talc with asbestos-related cancer. Industrial talc, an open-pit-mined mineral used in ceramic, paint, and paper manufacturing contains lethal, cancer-causing asbestos fibers responsible for a pottery artisan’s fatal mesothelioma.

R.T. Vanderbilt, Incorporated (“Vanderbilt”) claimed that talc from its New York State mines contained fibers that may have looked similar to but were not a lethal form of asbestos, a position that the company has maintained for decades. However, the Middlesex County Superior Court jury rejected the claims and award the New Jersey widow $3 million in compensatory damages. Hammill & Gillespie, Inc., which sold the industrial talc, was also found liable.

In the next phase of the trial, punitive damages will be sought against the defendants. It is scheduled to begin November 28th before the Hon. Ann G. McCormick, according to mesothelioma trail attorney Moshe Maimon, Esq., of Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, LLP who represents the estate of pottery artisan Peter Stanley Hirsch.