The most recent results of a Spanish Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that Revlimid in combination with dexamethasone delays disease progression in smoldering multiple myeloma patients who have a high risk of developing symptomatic disease.

Specifically, the results showed that high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma patients who received Revlimid plus dexamethasone had a longer time to disease progression and better overall survival than patients who did not receive …

Tags: ASH 2011 Meeting Decadron Dexamethasone Lenalidomide Multiple Myeloma Research Summary Revlimid Smoldering Multiple Myeloma

The European Medicines Agency announced earlier today that its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has completed its safety review of Revlimid. The review was started earlier this year after several studies showed an increased risk of new cancers in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients being treated with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and other treatments.

The Agency’s Committee has concluded that “the benefits of Revlimid, particularly improved survival, continue to outweigh the risks but recommended that the prescribing information for Revlimid be updated with a warning and advice to…

European myeloma experts recently developed guidelines for the appropriate management of side effects associated with novel agent therapy for older multiple myeloma patients. This article, Part 3 in a series, summarizes the guidelines for the management of Revlimid-related side effects. Part 1 describes the guidelines for the management of Velcade-related side effects, Part 2 summarizes the guidelines for thalidomide-related side effects, and Part 4 covers the European experts’ recommendations on novel agent use in specific patient populations.

Management Of Revlimid-Related Side Effects

Low Platelet Counts: 

Patients treated…

Results of a recent small Phase 2 study conducted in the Netherlands suggest that Revlimid maintenance therapy improves responses in multiple myeloma patients receiving “mini” donor stem cell transplants. However, the study authors also observed a rapid onset of graft-versus-host disease in these patients after the start of Revlimid treatment.

Based on these findings, the study authors recommended against Revlimid maintenance therapy for myeloma patients receiving “mini” donor stem cell transplants.

“Acute graft-versus-host disease is a life-threatening complication after donor stem cell transplantation, and our primary aim of the article…

The results of a recent Phase 2 trial show that the addition of cyclophosphamide to Revlimid and low-dose dexamethasone may result in better responses for previously untreated myeloma patients.

“This [study] provides the efficacy of another regimen for use in patients with myeloma,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Shaji Kumar of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “It is a fairly safe combination and is quite efficacious,” he stated in an e-mail to The Myeloma Beacon.

According to the study authors, the combination of Revlimid (lenalidomide), cyclophosphamide…