Results of a small Phase 2 study show that newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients achieve similar response rates with alternating weeks of Revlimid and thalidomide in combination with dexamethasone as patients receiving Revlimid with dexamethasone or thalidomide with dexamethasone.

The study investigators point out that the alternating regimen was well tolerated even though Revlimid was administered at a higher than usual dose of 50 mg per day. However, the regimen was not, as they had hoped, more effective than either Revlimid (lenalidomide) or thalidomide (Thalomid) alone in combination…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning to the prescribing information for Revlimid stating that patients being treated with the drug have an increased risk of developing a second cancer.

The warning has been added in two parts of the prescribing information.

In the upfront ‘Warnings and Precautions’ section, text has been included stating that “Higher incidences of SPM [second primary malignancies] were observed in controlled trials of patients with multiple myeloma receiving Revlimid.”

Later in the document, the warning is expanded to explain that studies have shown…

Results of a small Phase 2 study show that the four-drug combination therapy of Revlimid, Velcade, Doxil, and dexamethasone may be an effective and tolerable treatment option for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.

According to the study investigators, the four-drug regimen compares favorably to the three-drug combination without Revlimid in that it improves response rates without a significant increase in side effects.

The investigators recommend that future trials further investigate the number and specific types of previous treatments to identify those in which the Revlimid, Velcade, Doxil, and dexamethasone…

Results of a small study recently conducted at Johns Hopkins University indicate that Revlimid may boost vaccine responses in multiple myeloma patients.

Based on these results, the researchers who organized the study believe Revlimid could be used as part of a strategy to increase immune responses against both cancer and infectious diseases.

The researchers also argue that Revlimid may help reduce infections in myeloma patients being treated with the drug.  Infections are an important challenge for myeloma patients due to the immune system dysfunction that develops during the course of…

The results of a recent retrospective analysis show that the sequence of treatment with Velcade and Revlimid may not have a significant effect on outcomes in multiple myeloma patients.

Only patients with kidney disease had significantly longer survival times if they received Velcade first.

The researchers from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, who conducted the analysis pointed out that further prospective trials are needed to confirm their findings.

The results were presented during a poster session at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in December.…