Drug Combo Boosts Multiple Myelom...( A thalidomide derivative plus dexamet...),Health

A thalidomide derivative plus dexamethasone improved outcomes, studies found

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- A combination drug regimen that includes a derivative of thalidomide extended survival, as well as the time it took for the disease to reappear, in patients with multiple myeloma.

The combination of Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone was given U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory approval in June of 2006 for multiple myeloma patients who had already failed one treatment.

Now, two papers, appearing in the Nov. 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, mark the final publications of the study that paved the way for that approval, said Hildy Dillon, vice president of patient services disease programs at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in White Plains, N.Y.

"People who got [the combination regimen] had three times the likelihood of responding," added Dr. Donna M. Weber, lead author of the North American segment of the study and associate professor of medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "Overall survival showed a nine-month improvement from 20.2 to 29.6 months," she said.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the blood's plasma cells that causes almost 11,000 deaths each year in the United States. Experts say the new findings -- along with the recent FDA approval of the drug combo -- should greatly broaden the treatment landscape for multiple myeloma, which historically has been a difficult disease to treat.

Revlimid is a derivative of thalidomide, with alterations in its chemistry that give it more potency with fewer side effects, experts explained.

Thalidomide first appeared in Europe in the 1950s to treat morning sickness in pregnant women. Between 1956 and 1962, however, some 10,000 children were born with severe birth defects as a result of their mother having taking the drug.

But more recently, the drug has show
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