For nearly 70 years, MD Anderson has been defined by a single, powerful idea — to eliminate cancer.
Spring 2010 : An Advance for Multiple Myeloma Patients
An Advance for Multiple Myeloma Patients
Michael Wang, M.D.
The second-generation proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib is showing noteworthy response rates and low levels of adverse side effects among multiple myeloma patients in a Phase II clinical trial.
The updated data from the 17-site study focuses on patients with relapsed or resistant multiple myeloma who have received one to three prior therapies, but not the drug bortezomib, the original proteasome inhibitor.
- “These findings are truly an advance for patients with multiple myeloma,” says Michael Wang, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at MD Anderson and lead author on the study.
- “This is an incurable, challenging disease with devastating consequences. While new agents are extending life expectancies, they often have adverse side effects, including severe neuropathy. Carfilzomib is showing good response rates, with an improved side effects profile.”
Neuropathy is peripheral nerve pain or numbness that can become debilitating enough to halt treatment.
Reported in December 2009 at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.
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