Alimta is the first and only chemotherapy drug be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) when surgery is not an option. MPM is cancer of the linings of the lungs, rather than a cancer that forms in the lungs. Alimta is given with cisplatin, another anti-cancer medicine.

According to FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan M.D., Ph.D, "Up to now there has been no effective treatment for treating mesothelioma. Alimta offers new promise in treating this fatal cancer."
Alimta, which is produced by Eli Lilly, works by inhibiting enzymes that the cancer cells use to proliferate. By not feeding the cells these enzymes Alimta stops the spread of the cancer. Patients treated with Alimta, given with cisplatin, were shown to survive about three months longer than patients in the same trial who received only cisplatin.

As with any chemotherapy drug Alimta does have several side effects, although it is hard to pin point whether the drug or the cancer itself causes side effects. The most common side effects of Alimta are, stomach upset, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, a drop in white blood cells, increasing the risk of infection, a drop in red blood cells (anemia), tiredness or shortness of breath, mouth, throat, or lip sores, loss of appetite, and rash.

MPM is fairly rare and only about 2,000 new cases are diagnosed in the US each year. Patients who develop this cancer usually have a history of asbestos exposure. Asbestos fibers lodged in the lung attach to the outer lung lining and chest wall, causing tumors to grow. By the time symptoms appear, the disease is usually advanced, and patients live, on average, nine to thirteen months following diagnosis.