A case now underway in Britain’s High Court may change fundamental liability rules with regard to asbestos exposure.  The question before the court is whether liability for asbestos-related diseases commences from the time the victim is exposed to asbestos, or when an asbestos-related disease manifests itself.

The lethal asbestos-caused cancer mesothelioma may not be diagnosed for up to forty years after asbestos exposure.  It is an unusual disease with an extraordinary period of latency.  Once a patient is diagnosed, the survival period is usually twelve to eighteen months.

Companies who mined asbestos or manufactured asbestos products have been paying disease-related liability claims for years.  In February of 2006 however, they suspended payments while noting an appeals court ruling which had held that the point of liability was when malignancy manifested itself.  Medical research has set that point at some ten years prior to the appearance of symptoms.

In one of the test cases, the family of Charles O’Farrell, who died from mesothelioma in 2003, won a court judgment for £152,000 in compensation. But insurer Excess, which insured his now-defunct employer, Humphreys & Glasgow, when he was employed there as a steelworker in the 1960s, has refused to pay up.

The insurers say his injury occurred not when he was exposed to asbestos in the 60s, but when the cells in the lining of the lung began to turn malignant. Medical evidence is that this happens roughly 10 years before symptoms appear. At that point the company was no longer trading and was not covered by insurance.  While the insurance company is alive and well today, it is refusing to recognize liability.

A European drug company named MolMed has had good initial success with a medication called Arenegyr which is designed to attack malignant tumors brought on by mesothelioma.  As a result, European medical authorities have granted the drug “orphan status” in order to speed its development.  European Orphan Drug designation is granted to therapeutics intended for treatment of life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases affecting no more than 5 in 10,000 people. The Orphan Drug designation confers several benefits to drug development, including the possibility to reduce time to reach the market.

According to MolMed’s CEO, “The analysis of preliminary study results …conducted on 41 patients, already gave evidence of substantial clinical benefits in terms of long-lasting disease control and promising survivals in chemo-pretreated mesothelioma patients. In particular, it shows improved overall survival, and nearly doubled progression-free survival with respect to best supportive care data reported in literature.”

The drug itself is not just being tested with mesothelioma patients; it is also in Phase II trials with small-cell lung cancer and colo-rectal cancer.   Arenrgyr acts to restrict the flow of blood to the tumor.  It also carries a “cytokine” agent designed to disrupt the interaction of tumor cells and thus restrict growth.

MolMed is in development with two other products that feature novel approaches to fighting cancer.  One is designed to work in conjunction with a bone marrow transplant for leukemia patients.  The other is an anti-tumor product focused on melanoma.  The company is based in Milan, Italy.