Articles tagged with: Thalidomide
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U.K. Agency Approves Thalidomide And Velcade For Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients – The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the agency that decides which treatments will be funded for patients in England and Wales, approved funding for thalidomide (Thalomid) and Velcade (bortezomib) for certain newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. According to the final guidelines, NICE approved thalidomide for patients ineligible for stem cell transplantation. Due to Velcade’s higher cost, it was approved for the same patients only if they are unable to tolerate thalidomide. Both drugs are supposed to be given in combination with an alkylating agent – e.g., melphalan (Alkeran) or cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan) – and a corticosteroid – e.g., dexamethasone (Decadron) or prednisone. For more information, see the NICE website.
Australian Myeloma Specialist Receives Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Douglas Joshua, a myeloma expert at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia, received the Robert A. Kyle lifetime achievement award last month from the International Myeloma Foundation for his work over the past 40 years in the field of multiple myeloma. Dr. Joshua is the head of the Myeloma Research Unit and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at his hospital and has led basic and clinical research in myeloma. For more information, see the Sydney Central.
San Diego Area Workshop For Myeloma Patients And Family – The International Myeloma Foundation will hold a free, one-day workshop for myeloma patients and their family members on August 13 in La Jolla, CA. Myeloma specialist Dr. Morie Gertz from the Mayo Clinic and two other guest speakers will discuss topics important to myeloma patients and answer attendees’ questions. The workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Sheraton La Jolla and will last until 3 p.m. Lunch will be provided. For more information or to register, see the International Myeloma Foundation website.
For a more detailed listing of myeloma-related events, please check the Myeloma Beacon Events Calendar.
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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…
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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…
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Results of a recent Phase 2 study indicate that a steroid-free regimen of Velcade, Doxil, and thalidomide is effective in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.
“The most novel aspect [of the study] is that high response rates and effective disease control can be achieved without the use of [the corticosteroid] dexamethasone,” said Dr. Asher Chanan-Khan, one of the study’s investigators and a researcher at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.
“The development of such a regimen is critical as it can be used both in newly diagnosed…
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A group of Italian researchers recently showed that consolidation therapy with Velcade, thalidomide, and dexamethasone was more effective than consolidation therapy with thalidomide and dexamethasone alone.
In particular, they found that the Velcade-based consolidation therapy yielded more high-quality responses, such as complete responses, and a high rate of molecular remission, in which patients showed no signs of remaining myeloma cells.
Dr. Michele Cavo from the Seragnoli Institute of Hematology in Bologna, Italy, presented the results at the 16th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in London last week.
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