Phase II trial of carboplatin (JM8) in treatment of patients with malignant mesothelioma.

Seventeen patients with malignant mesothelioma were treated in a phase II study with carboplatin, a cisplatin analogue without significant nephrotoxicity or neurotoxicity. The drug was given in a dose of 300-400 mg/m2 by i.v. infusion, repeating at 28-day intervals. One patient achieved a complete clinical and radiological remission of 15 months' duration, and a second patient achieved a partial response of 11 months' duration (overall response rate 12%; overall response rate in previously untreated patients 20%). Four other previously untreated patients achieved symptomatic relief. Treatment was well tolerated without severe side-effects. Carboplatin, like most other cytotoxic drugs, is active only in a small minority of patients with mesothelioma, but its ability to achieve occasional good responses and frequent symptomatic relief, combined with low toxicity, may justify a short therapeutic trial in patients whose tumour is symptomatic.