The results of a Phase 1 study show that Kepivance reduces the severity of melphalan-related mouth ulcers in multiple myeloma patients. Due to better tolerability, the melphalan dosage could be safely increased to 280 mg/m² prior to a stem cell transplant.

Almost two-thirds of the patients, who all had normal kidney function, had responded to the regimen at 100 days post transplant. The study investigators point out, however, that a Phase 2 trial will be necessary to better determine the efficacy of this regimen.

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation …

Multiple myeloma patients receiving an infusion of their own stem cells either one day or two days after undergoing treatment with high-dose melphalan demonstrate similar clinical outcomes, according to a recent U.S. study.

The study investigators conclude that a day of rest between treatment with melphalan and stem cell infusion appears not to be necessary.  Based on their findings, they recommend that melphalan administration the day before stem cell infusion should be considered as standard of care.

According to Dr. Giampaolo Talamo of the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute in Hershey, Pennsylvania, …

The results of a recent Phase 1/2 study suggest that a combination of Velcade and melphalan followed by two back-to-back stem cell transplants is active and well-tolerated in multiple myeloma patients who failed to respond to their initial therapy or who have plasma cell leukemia, a highly aggressive form of myeloma.

Although the response and survival rates for this regimen did not improve upon those for previously tested regimens, the study authors contend that further studies of this novel Velcade-melphalan combination should be conducted to better understand the synergistic properties of these …

Results of a recent study conducted in the United Kingdom show that elderly and transplant-ineligible multiple myeloma patients who are treated with a reduced-dose combination of cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone as initial therapy achieve a greater overall response rate than patients who are treated with melphalan plus prednisone.

However, patients who received the three-drug combination had comparable overall survival and progression-free survival rates as patients who received melphalan plus prednisone.  Additionally, side effects were more common among patients treated with the three-drug combination.

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation is …

The results of a recent study from Italy suggest that the combination treatment of melphalan, prednisone, and thalidomide may increase survival in newly diagnosed elderly multiple myeloma patients compared to melphalan and prednisone alone. However, the rate of side effects increased with the addition of thalidomide.

Despite the higher rate of side effects, the study authors suggested that the combination of melphalan (Alkeran), prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalidomid) (MPT) should be considered a standard of care for newly diagnosed patients who are over 65 years old or ineligible for a …

As the myeloma community continues to investigate whether stem cell transplantation or novel agents is the best way to treat newly diagnosed myeloma patients, recent results from a Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that stem cell transplantation may lead to longer disease-free survival.

The results from this study show that more multiple myeloma patients who received a stem cell transplant were alive and disease-free after 24 months compared to patients treated with Revlimid in combination with conventional chemotherapy.

The transplanted patients, however, also experienced more severe side effects compared to non-transplanted patients. …

Thursday was the third day of the Inter­na­tional Myeloma Workshop (IMW) in Paris.  There were pre­sen­ta­tions from early morn­ing through the evening.

Some of the highlights from the first part of Day 3 of the conference are summarized in this article.  Highlights from the sec­ond part of the day are summarized in a separate article (see re­lated Beacon news).

Treating Older, Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

The first session of the morn­ing was about treating newly diag­nosed mul­ti­ple myeloma patients over the age of 65 years, spe­cif­i­cally those who are in­eli­gible for …