Results of a recent study conducted in the United Kingdom show that elderly and transplant-ineligible multiple myeloma patients who are treated with a reduced-dose combination of cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone as initial therapy achieve a greater overall response rate than patients who are treated with melphalan plus prednisone.

However, patients who received the three-drug combination had comparable overall survival and progression-free survival rates as patients who received melphalan plus prednisone.  Additionally, side effects were more common among patients treated with the three-drug combination.

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell…

The results of a recent study from Italy suggest that the combination treatment of melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide may increase survival in newly diagnosed elderly multiple myeloma patients compared to melphalan and prednisone alone. However, the rate of side effects increased with the addition of thalidomide.

Despite the higher rate of side effects, the study authors suggested that the combination of melphalan (Alkeran), prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalidomid) (MPT) should be considered a standard of care for newly diagnosed patients who are over 65 years old or ineligible…

As the myeloma community continues to investigate whether stem cell transplantation or novel agents is the best way to treat newly diagnosed myeloma patients, recent results from a Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that stem cell transplantation may lead to longer disease-free survival.

The results from this study show that more multiple myeloma patients who received a stem cell transplant were alive and disease-free after 24 months compared to patients treated with Revlimid in combination with conventional chemotherapy.

The transplanted patients, however, also experienced more severe side effects compared to…

Thursday was the third day of the International Myeloma Workshop (IMW) in Paris.  There were presentations from early morning through the evening.

Some of the highlights from the first part of Day 3 of the conference are summarized in this article.  Highlights from the second part of the day are summarized in a separate article (see related Beacon news).

Treating Older, Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

The first session of the morning was about treating newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients over the age of 65 years, specifically those who are…

High-dose melphalan continues to be the gold standard regimen for multiple myeloma patients prior to autologous stem cell therapy, according to a recent review of research investigating alternative preparative treatments before stem cell transplantation. 

The authors of the review pointed out, however, that current research on variations of this regimen may provide improved transplantation response rates for myeloma patients in the future. 

High-dose chemotherapy prior to stem cell transplantation, often called a preparative or conditioning regimen, is administered with the intention of eliminating cancerous cells from the patient’s bone marrow.…