Three-drug combination therapy appears to be effective for newly diagnosed MM patients
May 30, 2017
The study included patients who were eligible for a bone marrow transplant using their own stem cells, but offered a deferred transplant approach and only two patients chose that option. Most patients remained on the three-drug treatment and achieved responses similar to or better than those observed after a stem cell transplant. They are still eligible for a stem cell transplant if the disease becomes resistant to the drug combination.
"Newly diagnosed myeloma is most sensitive to treatment," Jakubowiak said. "A great and sustained response in the initial phase of treatment, as is the case in this study, typically projects longer remission, and possibly longer overall survival."
Carfilzomib has recently emerged as an important experimental medicine in the treatment of multiple myeloma. It is a proteasome inhibitor, a drug that interferes with the mechanism that cells use to get rid of unneeded or defective proteins. Because myeloma cells develop from antibody-producing white blood cells, they are "protein factories." Blocking their efforts to get rid of dysfunctional proteins can lead to cell death.
SOURCE University of Chicago Medical Center