Mayo Clinic study shows potential for new drug treatment for multiple myeloma

Monday, December 10, 2007

ATLANTA — Mayo Clinic researchers today presented results of a phase II trial that shows potential to help patients with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the white blood cells affecting more than 50,000 patients in the U.S.

"For newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, this new drug treatment provides a more frequent, rapid and deep response, compared with earlier treatment options," said Craig B. Reeder, M.D., a Mayo Clinic hematologist/oncologist and lead investigator of the study. "This is the first time we have studied this treatment in newly-diagnosed patients with this condition. This new treatment proved to be very successful."

The research team studied 30 patients enrolled in the trial who were administered a drug regimen using cyclophosphamide, bortezomib and dexamethasone (Cybor-D). That combination showed an improved response over the drug therapy used historically — lenalidomide-dexamethasone (L-Dex).

The 30 trial patients were administered Cybor-D. A control group of 34 patients was treated with L-Dex. Findings reveal that Cybor-D produced a higher rate of good or complete responses than the L-Dex.

Cybor-D was found to produce a rapid initial decline and reduction in M protein, an antibody protein that can build up in the bone marrow and cause the blood to thicken or damage the kidneys.

Other Mayo Clinic researchers contributing to the study included Rafael Fonseca, M.D.; Leif Bergsagel, M.D.; S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D.; Jacy Boesiger; Christine Chen; Martha Lacy, M.D.; Keith Stewart, M.B.Ch.B.; Joseph Hentz and Nicholas Pirooz. Researchers from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, also contributed to the study. Findings were reported by Dr. Reeder at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting in Atlanta Dec. 8-11, 2007.

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