New three-drug combination for multiple myeloma ! ...

The regimen, known as RVD, combined the drugs Revlimid - (lenalidomide), Velcade - (bortezomib) and dexamethasone, which previously were found to be highly effective in multiple myeloma patients who had relapsed or no longer responded to first-line therapies.

Fifteen of the 35 newly diagnosed patients in the open-label phase 2 portion of the study subsequently underwent autologous (using their own blood-forming stem cells) transplants, a standard treatment for multiple myeloma and did very well.

For the entire group, after a median 19.3 months of follow up, the median time-to-progression (TTP) of the disease, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) had not yet been reached, according to the presentation. The estimated TTP and PFS at one year are 76 percent, and the estimated one-year overall survival is 100 percent, the results showed.

The more interesting part of the study is that the high response rate was not affected by the specific genetic characteristics of the patients' disease. Patients with so-called "adverse cytogenetics" are at higher risk for treatment failure and death, but in the current study the drug combination worked as well for them as it did in patients with more favorable cytogenetic features.

Except for the main adverse effect, peripheral neuropathy (numbness or pain in the extremities), which typically cleared up after dosages were lowered and the treatment was completed.

The combination has now gone into large phase 3 clinical trials, and the researchers think that this regimen has the potential to be a new standard of treatment in multiple myeloma....

http://www.dana-farber.org/abo/news/press/2009/multiple-myeloma-patients-experience-high-response-rate-with-new-three-drug-combination.html