Articles tagged with: Cytoxan
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The 2014 International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) Annual Summit took place in Milan, Italy on June 9 and 10.
The summit is a special meeting organized by the International Myeloma Foundation in which leading myeloma researchers get to brainstorm collectively about the most pressing issues in the field, find ways to collaborate, and plan future laboratory and clinical studies.
The IMWG summit is hailed by most attendees as the most important meeting for myeloma researchers worldwide. It is a unique opportunity for investigators in the field to engage in lively debate but, …
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Findings from a recent retrospective study conducted in Korea indicate that a combination of dexamethasone, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, and cisplatin may be a suitable bridging therapy for relapsed multiple myeloma patients who previously received treatment with novel agents.
Most patients responded to the combination as salvage therapy or achieved stable disease, but the response rates were not durable. Therefore, the researchers suggested that the combination might serve better as bridging therapy - to stabilize the myeloma until the patients receive further treatment, such as stem cell transplantation or access to investigational therapies in clinical trials.
These results are particularly relevant for multiple myeloma patients in countries where access to novel agents, such as thalidomide (Thalomid), Velcade (bortezomib), and Revlimid (lenalidomide), is restricted, and also patients for whom novel agents no longer work.
The retrospective analysis was based on data from 59 patients who received dexamethasone (Decadron), cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), etoposide (VP-16), and cisplatin, commonly referred to as DCEP, as salvage therapy between 2006 and 2013. The median patient age was 58 years, and patients had received a median of three prior therapies, including at least one novel agent such as thalidomide, Revlimid, or Velcade.
Overall, 45 percent of patients responded to the treatment, with 2 percent achieving a complete response, 2 percent a very good partial response, and 41 percent a partial response. An additional 16 percent of patients achieved a minor response and 20 percent had stable disease.
The median progression-free survival was 3.7 months and the median overall survival was 8 months, which according to the researchers indicate that a durable response is hard to achieve with this regimen. Based on these findings, the researchers conclude that DCEP may be more suitable as a bridging therapy by stabilizing the disease for the next treatment.
The most common severe side effects were blood-related and included low white blood cell counts (92 percent), low platelet counts (76 percent), and low red blood cell counts (71 percent). Overall, 62 percent of patients discontinued treatment due to side effects.
The treatment-related death rate was notable at 15 percent. Nearly all of the treatment-related deaths were due to infection in patients with low white blood cell counts.
The researchers therefore recommend that patients being treated with DCEP also receive growth factors to increase blood cell counts and reduce the chance of infection.
For more information, please refer to the study in the Annals of Hematology (abstract).
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Monday was the third day of this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). The day was filled with oral presentation sessions from early in the morning until into the evening.
In the afternoon and early evening, there were six oral presentation sessions devoted solely to multiple myeloma and a number of other myeloma-related presentations scattered about the afternoon. The topics of these presentations ranged from the biology of myeloma to treatment options for newly diagnosed, relapsed and refractory, and older patients.
This ASH update highlights most of the oral …
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Results from a recent Italian Phase 1/2 clinical trial indicate that the combination of Pomalyst, cyclophosphamide, and prednisone is effective and safe in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.
Overall, 51 percent of patients in the trial responded to the treatment, and the median progression-free survival time was 10.4 months. The median overall survival had not been reached yet; however, 69 percent of patients were alive one year after starting treatment.
The study participants had previously been treated with a median of three prior therapies, and all had received prior treatment with
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Results from a recent, small-scale study conducted at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston suggest that three Velcade-based combination therapies given at lower doses over a short period of time may be safe and effective in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients .
In particular, two out of the three combinations showed overall response rates of above 90 percent, and all combinations were associated with few side effects.
Based on their findings, the researchers conclude that the tested combinations are viable alternatives to standard Velcade (bortezomib)-based combinations given over longer periods …
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The results of a recent retrospective study show that the use of novel agents for the treatment of multiple myeloma may not have a negative impact on subsequent stem cell collection and transplantation.
The study's results stand in contrast to previous research that has suggested that Revlimid, one of the most commonly used novel agents, may have a negative effect on stem cell collection.
Factors in the current study that were found to be associated with stem cell collection failure included older age, lower platelet counts prior to stem cell collection, and …
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Results from a small, retrospective study indicate that combination therapy with Velcade, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone may be effective in newly diagnosed myeloma patients with kidney damage.
The findings, discussed in a letter to the editor of the European Journal of Haematology, show that kidney impairment did not worsen in any patients who received the three-drug treatment.
The study investigators also note that side effects were manageable, but recommend further research of the three-drug therapy to determine its safety as a long-term treatment option.
Kidney impairment is a common myeloma-related complication. It is …
