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Researchers at the University of Miami's Sylvester Cancer Center have started a Phase 2 clinical trial to test whether the cholesterol drug fenofibrate (Tricor) is effective, on its own, as an anti-myeloma therapy.

The trial is motivated by a preclinical study, which found that fenofibrate is toxic to multiple myeloma cells.  In particular, fenofibrate appears to interfere with the ability of myeloma cells to purge themselves of proteins they produce.  The proteins eventually accumulate within the cells to levels that are fatal to them.

Branded and generic versions of fenofibrate are already marketed in the United States and other countries. The drug was approved nearly 20 years ago by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for high cholesterol and high triglyceride levels.

The University of Miami fenofibrate trial is open to relapsed/refractory myeloma patients who have had at least two previous myeloma treatment regimens.

For more information about the trial, see the trial description at the U.S. clinical trial registry.  For more information about the preclinical study investigating fenofibrate's potential as an anti-myeloma therapy, see either the final pub­lished study in the journal Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology (abstract) or the pre-publication draft of the study (full-text).

The official U.S. prescribing information for fenofibrate is available at the FDA website.