Multiple myeloma, a dreaded form of cancer, can be effectively treated with a combination of dexamethasone and lenalidomide. This finding was noted in a study involving 353 patients with myeloma and conducted at 44 centers in the United States and Canada.
The study noted that multiple myeloma progression can be slowed down to a considered extent when a new thalidomide derivative is paired with a steroid. The pairing is also useful for prolonging patient life where there is a relapse after earlier treatments.
From News-Medical.Net:
"These trials highlight how large-scale cooperation in a team effort by myeloma investigators can quickly confirm benefits and introduce new active agents for patients with this disease," Weber says. "We also owe a debt to the willing patients who participated in this study."
Multiple myeloma is caused by formation of abnormal plasma cells, a type of white blood cell, in the bone marrow. These cells multiply rapidly, crowding out normal red and white blood cells and platelets. Tumors starting in the bone marrow may cause pain, and weaken bones predisposing them to fracture. In the United States about 20,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma annually, and about 11,000 succumb to the disease each year.
Thalidomide, a breakthrough drug for multiple myeloma, is produced and marketed by Celgene Corporation as Thalomid(r). The company chemically altered thalidomide to make lenalidomide, known commercially as Revlimid(r), in hopes of reducing side effects and improving efficacy against the disease. The drugs attack both the malignant cells and the cellular environment that nurtures them.
Lead author Donna Weber, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, remarked that this combination looks effective as the complication may become immune to one therapy at times.
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