[AnnM]

Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by AnnM on Wed Aug 24, 2016 3:43 pm

My husband has started a clinical trial of Empliciti (elotuzumab), Pomalyst (pomalidomide), and dexamethasone. This is his first relapse after initial treatment with Revlimid, Velcade, and dexamethasone (RVD) starting on January 26, 2014. He had 8 cycles of RVD, no stem cell transplant, and then 2 years on Revlimid 10 mg in remission. His M-spike started rising about 4 months ago. It is now at 1.6 g/dL (16 g/l).

Today was a long day of infusions. The Empliciti will not be given at a faster rate until after week 8, per trial protocol.

After reading through the Empliciti threads here in the forum, I found no one on this Empliciti regimen, with Pomalyst and dex. It seems that more are on the Empliciti, Revlimid, and dexamethasone treatment.

Is anyone else on this treatment regimen and, if so, what sort of experience have you had?

[JPC]

Re: Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by JPC on Wed Aug 24, 2016 8:23 pm

Hello Ann:

I think you are correct, in that this is new a combination, I do not recall anyone ever posting about this on the forum.

Generally, however, I understand that overall, Pomalyst is more active and with less side effects than Revlimid. The monoclonal antibodies (Empliciti is one of them) could have fairly severe initial reactions, but they fade over time, and are not long lasting. It is very rare for the reaction for the second infusion to be worse than the first, and so on. The monoclonal antibodies so far are not thought to have long term-side effects, but it is early – they are new.

Very generally, I think the Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone combination is very likely to be very effective, overall, and I hope so for your husband.

Good luck to you.

[skippy]

Re: Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by skippy on Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:05 am

Hi Ann,

I am going to start on that combination soon. Will keep you posted how it goes.

[AnnM]

Re: Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by AnnM on Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:26 pm

My husband has had 3 rounds of Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexa­metha­sone. He has had only a few minor side effects: occasional hand tremors, some fatigue, gravelly voice. Once nurses have sped up rate of delivery, so our time in the treatment center has shortened.

He has lost 10 pounds since April, so we are loading up on the protein and good carbs.

Now he is dealing with a cracked tooth and because he has been on Zometa, he had a C-telo­peptide to rate his bone level. His multiple myeloma specialist and dentist worked out a plan and he is being treated now.

He also has knee pain and will have an MRI today. Orthopedist thinks it is a torn meniscus. Rae is tired of crutches.

Skippy, I am hoping your experience with these 3 drugs will be as easy for you as it has been for Rae.

[AnnM]

Re: Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by AnnM on Thu Sep 08, 2016 6:15 pm

We already heard the radiologist's report on Rae's knee MRI. Multiple lesions on the femur ex­tending through the knee area and tibia. We were hoping for the torn meniscus, which would be an easy fix. So this is multiple myeloma bone pain. We will see his specialist on Tuesday for the next step.

We're not sure what can be done about the lesions -- for example, whether radiation will help.

In my earlier post I mentioned that Rae had a C-telo­peptide test. His score was 159; 400 is what the doctor had hoped for. This does not bode well for treating the tooth.

Not a good news day.

[Jean Ruth Howard]

Re: Empliciti, Pomalyst, and dexamethasone treatment

by Jean Ruth Howard on Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:41 pm

Any updates from AnnM or skippy on this drug regimen? My husband just started this combo yesterday after being on Empliciti, Revlimid, and dexamethasone for two and half years, but his numbers recently started climbing, so we are trying this new combo now.