Immunotherapy for mesothelioma - what is available now, and what is coming soon?

In this episode of MesoTV, we are joined by Dr. Ibiayi Dagogo-Jack a thoracic oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She helps us understand the types of immunotherapy treatments currently available to mesothelioma patients, and treatments undergoing clinical trials that might be available in the future. We discuss the ipilimumab/nivolumab (Yervoy/Opdivo) combination, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), and the combination of durvalumab (Imfinzi) with standard chemotherapy that is currently being studied. We also discuss targeted therapies. Dr. Dagogo-Jack explains in a very approachable way the theory behind immunotherapy in general, as well as why certain immunotherapies might be better choices for certain patients. Dr. Ibiayi Dagogo-Jack received her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and her medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Following residency, she completed hematology/oncology fellowship in the combined Massachusetts General Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute program. She is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital where she specializes in thoracic cancers. She conducts clinical/translational research focused on understanding mechanisms underlying resistance to cancer therapeutics and clinical trials designed to evaluate novel combinations in lung cancer and mesothelioma.