This sees like good news:
Copenhagen-based Genmab has received "breakthrough therapy" status for its drug treatment of multiple myeloma from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug, called daratumumab, is for patients who have received three prior treatments that were ineffective. With the designation, the drug may arrive on the market by 2015 rather than 2017.
The new drug is an antibody that attaches to CD38, a surface marker expressed on multiple myeloma cancer cells. The antibody attracts other immune cells to attack the cancerous cells and kill them off.
The drug treatment will be tested on other types of lymphomas and leukemias because many express CD38 on their surface. Daratumumab is currently in PhaseI/II clinical trials and has shown strong results in helping cancer patients with multiple myeloma.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/15093/20130502/fda-grants-breakthrough-status-daratumumab-multiple-myeloma.htm
Forums
9 posts
• Page 1 of 1
-
Finn Helge - Name: Finn Helge Quist
- Who do you know with myeloma?: My wife has multiple myeloma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Summer 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 48
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
That sounds great. Will this be a chemo drug, as in another analog of Thalidamide? My Alma says she doesn't want to kill her immune system with any more chemo, but if there's some way I can sell her on this one (and she survives long enough) I will sure try. I like the description so far....guess I'll do a search on it and find out more.
-
royjulius - Who do you know with myeloma?: My girlfriend of 10 years, Alma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: About 5 years ago
- Age at diagnosis: 57
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
Hello royjulis
I`m no doctor, but this is the first "antibody" for multiple myeloma. So as far as I can understand, it`s not a poison or chemo drug, but at drug that stimulates the body`s own immunesystem to attack and kill the sick myeloma cells. Whether they kill 100% and make the pasient symptom-free for long, I don`t know.
I`m not sick, but my wife has multiple myeloma. She had her first stamcell-transplatation in June 2010, but now the sickness is back, and she has to undergo a second stamcell-transplatation this summer.
Like most people with multiple myeloma, we are on the lookout for new medicin, that can give us hope for a cure in the "near" future. There seems to be a lot happing right now regarding several new medicines, and medicines like pomalidomide, Revlimid and others give hope, and we need that !
My wife and I hope, that this new drug I wrote about, Duratumumab", might be somthing new. It seems that way, since it`s the first antibody medicin that enables the body to fight and kill the sick myeloma cells on it`s own.
Best regards
Finn Helge
Haugesund, Norway (Europe)
I`m no doctor, but this is the first "antibody" for multiple myeloma. So as far as I can understand, it`s not a poison or chemo drug, but at drug that stimulates the body`s own immunesystem to attack and kill the sick myeloma cells. Whether they kill 100% and make the pasient symptom-free for long, I don`t know.
I`m not sick, but my wife has multiple myeloma. She had her first stamcell-transplatation in June 2010, but now the sickness is back, and she has to undergo a second stamcell-transplatation this summer.
Like most people with multiple myeloma, we are on the lookout for new medicin, that can give us hope for a cure in the "near" future. There seems to be a lot happing right now regarding several new medicines, and medicines like pomalidomide, Revlimid and others give hope, and we need that !
My wife and I hope, that this new drug I wrote about, Duratumumab", might be somthing new. It seems that way, since it`s the first antibody medicin that enables the body to fight and kill the sick myeloma cells on it`s own.
Best regards
Finn Helge
Haugesund, Norway (Europe)
-
Finn Helge - Name: Finn Helge Quist
- Who do you know with myeloma?: My wife has multiple myeloma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Summer 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 48
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
Thank you. I do credit Revlimid for extending the life of my Alma. She was in pretty bad shape and Revlimid got her fully functional again. Even driving herself around. I would like to get her on one of the drugs she hasn't tried yet, at least so that her life may be prolonged long enough to try this new one.
-
royjulius - Who do you know with myeloma?: My girlfriend of 10 years, Alma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: About 5 years ago
- Age at diagnosis: 57
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
Hello again royjulius
All the best to your Alma and yourself! I`m in the same boat as you, as I hope the same for my Ingrid. I think the both of us will beat this in the end!
I found some more information about the new drug Daratumumab (DARA). The new info doesn`t tell me a hole lot, since I have no medical expertice, but the wording sounds quite positive. Maybe someone with a medical background can read something useful out of this, and make a comment (?):
Conclusions:
DARA induced a marked reduction in paraprotein and bone marrow plasma cells at doses ≥4mg/kg in heavily pretreated RR multiple myeloma pts. In addition, high response rates and encouraging PFS data were observed. This is unprecedented for single-agent mAb treatment of multiple myeloma.
Full story:
http://abstracts2.asco.org/AbstView_132_109895.html
Best regards Finn Helge
All the best to your Alma and yourself! I`m in the same boat as you, as I hope the same for my Ingrid. I think the both of us will beat this in the end!
I found some more information about the new drug Daratumumab (DARA). The new info doesn`t tell me a hole lot, since I have no medical expertice, but the wording sounds quite positive. Maybe someone with a medical background can read something useful out of this, and make a comment (?):
Conclusions:
DARA induced a marked reduction in paraprotein and bone marrow plasma cells at doses ≥4mg/kg in heavily pretreated RR multiple myeloma pts. In addition, high response rates and encouraging PFS data were observed. This is unprecedented for single-agent mAb treatment of multiple myeloma.
Full story:
http://abstracts2.asco.org/AbstView_132_109895.html
Best regards Finn Helge
-
Finn Helge - Name: Finn Helge Quist
- Who do you know with myeloma?: My wife has multiple myeloma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Summer 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 48
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
There are actually three monoclonal antibody drugs currently in the pipeline for multiple myeloma patients: Daratumumab, elotuzumab and siltuximab. This class of drugs is one of the hugely exciting developments coming down the pipe for multiple myeloma patients.
You can just google on any of these drug names and "beacon" to find more details on this site (the search function on the Beacon doesn't seem to work well for this kind of thing).
You can just google on any of these drug names and "beacon" to find more details on this site (the search function on the Beacon doesn't seem to work well for this kind of thing).
-
Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
The Beacon's "tag" pages are often the best bet for locating Beacon news articles about specific topics. Here are the ones relevant to the drug's Multibilly mentioned:
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/daratumumab/
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/elotuzumab/
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/siltuximab/
One difference between daratumumab and the other antibody drugs is that daratumumab seems to have a decent amount of single-agent activity against myeloma. That doesn't seem to be the case with the other two "mab" drugs.
The home page for the Beacon's "news" articles,
https://myelomabeacon.org/news/
lists a wide range of potentially useful tag pages, including the tag pages for many investigational myeloma treatments.
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/daratumumab/
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/elotuzumab/
https://myelomabeacon.org/tag/siltuximab/
One difference between daratumumab and the other antibody drugs is that daratumumab seems to have a decent amount of single-agent activity against myeloma. That doesn't seem to be the case with the other two "mab" drugs.
The home page for the Beacon's "news" articles,
https://myelomabeacon.org/news/
lists a wide range of potentially useful tag pages, including the tag pages for many investigational myeloma treatments.
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
Many thanks Beacon Staff!!
-
Multibilly - Name: Multibilly
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: Smoldering, Nov, 2012
Re: Breakthrough ? / New drug daratumumab / May 2013
Yes thanks Finn, and everyone else who contributed to this thread. There is a lot of hope here! 
-
royjulius - Who do you know with myeloma?: My girlfriend of 10 years, Alma
- When were you/they diagnosed?: About 5 years ago
- Age at diagnosis: 57
9 posts
• Page 1 of 1