Die Ergebnisse einer kürzlich durchgeführten klinischen Phase-2-Studie in Dänemark werfen Fragen nach der zukünftigen Rolle des Antibiotikums Clarithromycin (Biaxin) bei der Behandlung des multiplen Myeloms auf.

Frühere Forschungen haben gezeigt, dass die Zugabe von Clarithromycin zu den Standard-Myelom-Behandlungen die Wirksamkeit der Behandlung verbessern könnte, ohne dass die Nebenwirkungen signifikant zunehmen.

Infolgedessen wurden Clarithromycin-haltige Therapien wie "BiRd" (Biaxin, Revlimid und Dexamethason) von einigen Myelom-Spezialisten zur Behandlung sowohl neu diag­nosti­zier­ter als auch rezidivierter Patienten eingesetzt.

Die jüngste dänische Studie ergab jedoch, dass die Zugabe von Clarithromycin zur Kombination von Velcade (Bortezomib), Cyclophosphamid (Cytoxan) und …

Results of a recent Phase 2 clin­i­cal trial in Denmark raise questions about the future role of the antibiotic clarithro­mycin (Biaxin) in the treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

Previous research has suggested that adding clarithromycin to standard myeloma treat­ment regi­mens could im­prove treat­ment efficacy without a sig­nif­i­cant increase in side effects.

As a result, clarithromycin-containing regi­mens such as “BiRd” (Biaxin, Revlimid, and dexa­meth­a­sone) have been employed by some myeloma specialists to treat both newly diag­nosed and re­lapsed patients.

The recent Danish trial, however, found that adding clarithromycin to the com­bi­na­tion of Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib), …

In the midst of the annual late May / early June medical conference season, with the many presentations of results from large-scale clin­i­cal trials, it is perhaps refreshing to learn that small-scale research has uncovered a pre­vi­ously unexplored poten­tial myeloma ther­apy.

In particular, physicians in New Zealand have found signs that roxi­thro­mycin, an antibiotic first used more than 30 years ago, may have anti-myeloma activity. The physicians shared their finding in a case report pub­lished last month.

In their report, the physicians describe the case of an 86-year-old man who has been …

The world may not be ready for the 500th column on the joys of dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron), but today is a dex day for me, so here it goes anyway.

I have a fair bit of experience with the corticosteroid dex, starting with my myeloma diagnosis back in 2006. My initial treatment consisted of thalido­mide (Thalomid) and dex, and I was on the two drugs for about eight months. This combination did well, getting me into complete re­mission before my autologous stem cell transplant. I had the then-current dosage of 40 …

This year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) began yesterday morning in New Orleans.

Myeloma-related presentations were made during several sessions yesterday.

Two sessions were designed to better educate physicians about multiple myeloma and how to treat the disease.

The key myeloma-related research presented yesterday was made public during a poster session in the evening about the biology of myeloma as well as pre­clin­i­cal and clin­i­cal studies testing new and existing treat­ments for myeloma.

During the session, research results were made avail­able for review by meeting attendees in the form …

The results of a recent retrospective analysis show that long-term treat­ment with the combination of Revlimid, clarithromycin (Biaxin), and dexa­methasone – commonly abbreviated "BiRd" – is effective and safe in newly diagnosed myeloma patients.

Furthermore, the study did not find any significant association between long-term Revlimid (lenalidomide) therapy and an increased risk of developing secondary cancers.

“We did expect these results. It was our sense from following patients who have been treated with lena­lido­mide [Revlimid] long-term and have not received any genotoxic therapy that we did not see increased rates of second primary malignancies,” said …

This year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, which is being held in Atlanta, began yesterday and goes through Tuesday.

Today’s myeloma-related presentations began this afternoon with three sessions of oral presentations.  Two of the sessions focused on results from clin­i­cal trials, most of which studied drugs that are still under devel­op­ment as poten­tial treat­ments for multiple myeloma.  The third session, which focused on the biology of myeloma, ran simultaneously with one of the sessions about clin­i­cal trial results.

This article will summarize the first oral session about multiple myeloma treat­ments, …