New research and development into the cause, diagnosis, treatment and cure of mesothelioma is ongoing. As the scientific and medical communities evaluate new drugs and new methods, survival rates are expected to increase. Clinical trials are instrumental in assessing these new methods and drugs. With most clinical trials, the results of new treatments are compared with standard treatments. Studies based on such trials are categorized into phases. Phase I indicates an initial assessment. Phase II attempts to correct and improve any errors and inconsistencies found in Phase I. Phase III clinical trials will only be implemented if results of Phase I and Phase II trials prove to be effective. Phase III clinical trials usually involve hundreds of patients with symptoms and diagnoses sufficient to assess the drug or method under consideration. The population of patients allowed to participate in Phase III trials is as determined by an analysis of Phase I and II results. Higher levels of phases tend to include more participants and provide a more concerted assessment.

In addition to assessing new methods and drugs, clinical trials provide patients with an opportunity to try new drugs or treatments. As such, this option of treatment must be carefully evaluated. Another benefit of clinical trials is that it helps doctors to better understand how to treat mesothelioma.

Combination therapy, also called multimodal therapy, is a combination of some subset of the following treatment methods:

·         Surgery

·         Chemotherapy

·         Radiation

·         Participation in clinical trials

When all methods or the first three methods are used for a single patient, the treatment becomes grueling and in many cases, unbearable. The healthiest patients and patients diagnosed to be in the earliest stage of mesothelioma are the best candidates for this aggressive type of therapy. Though grueling, this type of aggressive combination therapy has been the most promising method of treating malignant mesothelioma. However, most people that receive this type of treatment will experience a recurrence of mesothelioma.   Historically, chemotherapy drugs have not been very successful in treating advanced stages of mesothelioma. As such, new drugs are being explored to treat aggressive forms of the disease. Such drugs include the following:·         Anti-angiogenesis drugs, which are drugs designed to kill cancer cells by cutting off their blood supply. An example is the drug, Bevacizumab, which is also termed Avastin.·         Anti-growth factor drugs, which are drugs that interfere with the substances produced by cancer cells to stimulate their own growth. An example is the drug Eriotinib, which is also termed Tarceva.New drugs are also being tested in clinical trials along with other types of treatment. Ranprinase, or Onconase, is an enzyme being tested. This enzyme breaks down RNA and preliminary studies indicate that it has the potential to help patients live longer. Suberoylanilide hydoxamic acid, or vorinostat, is another drug being tested in clinical studies. This drug is thought to able to reduce the growth of mesothelioma cancer cells by inhibiting an enzyme that controls certain proteins, which regulate DNA. These proteins are termed histones. Gene therapy is a process of using therapeutic genes that have been modified in the laboratory in the treatment of mesothelioma. The theory is that these therapeutic genes will be inserted into cancerous tumor cells to weaken them. Since studies indicate that mesothelium patients rarely die from metastases of cancer to other parts of the body, this type of therapy seems most appropriate for localized mesothelioma. When cancer is localized to mesothelium membranes, it makes the primary site of the cancer readily accessible for gene delivery.