[heike]

Gazyva (new medication) - help for multiple myeloma?

by heike on Mon Nov 04, 2013 4:18 am

Hello all, I came across a seemingly promising new treatment against CLL (a slowly developing form of leukemia, esp developing in people over 70 years old) produced by Genentech and Biogen / Roche Pharma. It's called Gazyva and seemingly highly promising, strenghtening the immune system and directly attacking cancerous cells. Roche, according to that report, is researching whether this medication might also be helpful for Non Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Any idea whether this might be something for multiple myeloma at one point? It sounds as if it might be?

All the best to you all!

Heike

[Multibilly]

Re: Gazyva (new medication) - help for multiple myeloma?

by Multibilly on Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:08 am

Gazyva is obinutuzumab. It is a monoclonal antibody. Without getting into all the details of how monoclonal antibodies work, It basically produces its effect by targeting a very specific marker (a protein) on the cancerous cell known as CD20. CD20 is a marker associated with the disease CLL. Multiple myeloma cells have their own unique markers such as CD38. There are a whole new class of very promising monoclonal antibody agents that are currently being tested specifically for myeloma that utilize the surface markers that tend to be associated with myeloma cells, including CD38 (daratumumab), CD40 (dacetuzumab), CS-1 (elotuzumab), etc.

The success of obinutuzumab bodes well for the success of the monoclonal antibodies being developed for myeloma, as they share many of the same basic principals for attacking the disease. This new class of drugs is very exciting for myeloma patients.

Last edited by Multibilly on Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[Wayne K]

Re: Gazyva (new medication) - help for multiple myeloma?

by Wayne K on Mon Nov 04, 2013 2:44 pm

I was diagnosed with CLL 8 years before my multiple myeloma diagnosis. It was a 6 month visit to my hematologist for my CLL that caught my multiple myeloma. I had some serious symptoms at the time, but probably not bad enouh for me to seek medical advice had it not been for the CLL.
My CLL symptoms disappeared after my SCT. I was told prior to my transplant that they couldn't predict how the CLL would react.
Ironically my CLL was caught while treating me for a lung infection that enabled a lung cancer diagnosis.

[heike]

Re: Gazyva (new medication) - help for multiple myeloma?

by heike on Mon Nov 04, 2013 3:56 pm

this does seem promising. thanks - it explains!

and: how wild does it get - actually with brother it was a tiny bit the same - in the beginning diagnose was lung cancer and only then and after a while they got the multiple myeloma. my feelings are with you - what a journey.

nevertheless - i'm grateful for all of those exchanges, for this support i can feel and wouldn't have felt otherwise.

all my best! hearfelt.

[Dr. Adam Cohen]

Re: Gazyva (new medication) - help for multiple myeloma?

by Dr. Adam Cohen on Thu Nov 07, 2013 9:49 pm

The molecule targeted by Gazyva, CD20, isn't usually expressed on myeloma cells, except in a small subset (maybe 5-10%) of myeloma patients. So it's not likely the drug will be useful in myeloma. Still, as mentioned above, there are a number of other monoclonal antibodies targeting myeloma cells that look very exciting in preliminary studies, and larger studies are ongoing. So stay tuned!