According to researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, steroid pill treatment can be highly effective when it comes to improving the overall survival rate of patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow.

Multiple myeloma, which is considered to be a dreadful type of cancer, takes approximately 14,000 lives in the United States alone, each year.

James Berenson, M.D., lead author of the Southwest Oncology Group sponsored study and Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Bone Metastasis Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, remarked that the use of prednisone in response to an upfront chemotherapy is a safe option for prolonging the lives of patients suffering from Multiple Myeloma.

From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:

Multiple myeloma occurs when the body makes an abnormally high number of cancerous plasma cells. When healthy, plasma cells help to protect the body from infection and disease by forming antibodies that attack foreign substances. But when the body makes too many plasma cells that all make the same type of antibody, this leads to multiple myeloma, causing damage to bones, severe bone pain, an overabundance of calcium in the blood, anemia, and a weakening of the immune system. Today, most patients with multiple myeloma receive initial treatment with chemotherapy or with high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant and many respond to treatment and achieve remission. However, all patients ultimately relapse with incurable disease, leading physicians to search for ways to prolong remission for as long as possible by using some type of maintenance therapy.

It was concluded by the involved researchers that patients administered with oral prednisone in the long-term after chemotherapy treatment were able to maintain their remission and lived longer.

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Actress Lisa Ray, who has worked in many Indian and Hollywood movies, has been diagnosed with cancer. She recently revealed in her blog (lisaraniray.wordpress.com) that she is learning to face this disturbing fact and is quite hopeful of beating the ailment.

She says, “I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma on June 23rd. Started my first cycle of treatment July 2nd. Not long ago.”

When asked about her steroids and life in the wetsuit, Lisa remarked that she feels her skin getting stretched and move in ways that she has not felt before.

From Lisaraniray.wordpress.com:

In the industry I’m in, you could say, its motive alone that gives character to your acting.

So today with Velcade, Revlimid and other promising new treatments in the pipeline our survival rates are improving. But only with an ever expanding toolbox of treatments and awareness can this Cancer be beat. So I’m going to do everything I can to wrench the spotlight onto Myeloma and Cancer Awareness.

I believe it can be cured.

That’s the Dirty Realist in me.

So back to the ‘Yellow’ Diaries. And more on ‘Yellow’ and charging your yellow later…

On Steroids: you are HUNGRY ALL THE TIME.

When Dr. Ahmed Galal, my Warrior-Hematologist at Princess Margaret Hospital gave me my first cycle of meds, he capped his recommendation off with a charming gesture that meant: Beware of sweets.

Well. Sweet things aren’t the only temptation.

Every cycle of treatment, I’m on Dexamethasone for four days on, then four days off.

All her fans have been seen praying to the almighty for an early recovery for this actress of substance.

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The combination of lenalidomide and dexamethasone is effectual against multiple myeloma: this was a fact that was revealed after a study involving 353 patients with myeloma was conducted at 44 centers in the United States and Canada.

The study also found out that pairing a new thalidomide derivative with a steroid can considerably slowdown any further progression of multiple myeloma, which is an incurable bone marrow cancer. It was also revealed that this combination may also prove its worth to prolong lives of patients who have relapsed from previous 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.

It was remarked by 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 that a combination of medical drugs may prove to be beneficial in ongoing treatment as a disease may become resistant to one drug.

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According to a team headed by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, a new combo of Velcade with dexamethasone and lenalidomide can prove to be effective for patients who have been recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

The combination of these three drugs is effective for treating multiple myeloma patients who have relapsed after failing to respond to standard treatment therapies or after successful treatment.

From News-Medical.Net:

The three-pronged regimen of Velcade, lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone – referred to as Rev/Vel/Dex – has achieved an overall response rate of 98 percent in 42 patients evaluated thus far in a Phase 1-2 trial, said Paul Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber and the study’s principal investigator. He added that 52 percent of the patients had high quality responses (very good partial response or better), with 30 percent achieving complete response to date.

“These may be some of the best response rates we’ve seen to date with up-front therapies, and although these are preliminary results, they are extremely promising,” Richardson said. The patients were previously untreated when they received the Rev/Vel/Dex combination.

Velcade is a “smart” drug known as a proteasome inhibitor that blocks the myeloma cells’ waste disposal system, creating an accumulation of toxic compounds that poison the cell. Revlimid is a chemical relative of thalidomide that affects several pathways in cancer cells, including immune mechanisms and blood vessel growth to tumors. Dexamethasone is a steroid hormone that counters inflammation and is used to treat hematologic malignancies such as myeloma. Studies leading to the trial of the three drugs in combination were carried out at Dana-Farber.

The findings are expected to offer much-awaited relief to patients with multiple myeloma, who have been expecting an effective treatment methodology for the last many years.

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Thalomid, which is also known as thalidomide, has been halted by drug company Celgene earlier than expected after the drug was shown to limit the progression of the blood cancer multiple myeloma.

It was revealed during the phase 3 trial of 270 patients that thalomid offers great benefits to patients who are suffering from blood cancer. These results prompted the decision that the trial patients not on this drug should also be given an opportunity to add thalomid to their treatment regimen.

From News-Medical.Net:

According to Celgene spokesman Brian Gill, Thalomid is currently the most widely prescribed drug for multiple myeloma.

It seems that while companies are not allowed to actively promote a drug for a condition for which it is not approved by regulators, doctors are allowed to prescribe it “off-label” for any disease.

Celgene is now chasing formal U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Thalomid to be used in multiple myeloma.

The FDA has however asked for updated safety information before allowing the drug to be marketed for treating newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

Some of the side effects seen in the trial included insomnia, tremors and dizziness, and more than 10 percent of the Thalomid patients suffered deep vein thrombosis, compared with 1.7 percent of patients treated only with dexamethasone.

Pulmonary embolism occurred in 5.6 percent of Thalomid patients, compared with 1.7 percent of patients treated with dexamethasone alone.

Gill says the company is planning a wider commercial launch next year of both Thalomid and a successor drug, Revlimid, which was approved by the FDA in December for treating a group of blood disorders known as myelodysplastic syndromes.

Celgene has also recently sought approval from the FDA for Revlimid for the treatment of last-stage multiple myeloma.

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Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center report that treatment with a steroid pill improves the overall survival of patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. The study shows that patients who received oral prednisone over the long term following treatment with chemotherapy maintained their remission and survived longer.

From Bio-medicine:

In the study, the researchers compared patients with multiple myeloma receiving prednisone in pill-form following a response to treatment with one of two chemotherapy combinations: vincristine, doxorubicin and dexamethasone with prednisone or with or without quinine, which has been found to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Treatment with either of the chemotherapy combinations was repeated every 21 days for at least six months or until patients achieved at least a 25 percent reduction in tumor size. After a 53-month follow-up period, the investigators found that there was no difference in either progression-free or overall survival between the patients receiving chemotherapy with or without quinine.

To determine whether prednisone alone was effective as maintenance therapy, patients who responded to treatment with up-front chemotherapy were randomly selected to receive either 10 (the amount that the body normally makes daily) or 50 mg of prednisone every other day until their disease progressed.

At the end of the study, the research team found that the long term use of prednisone delayed progression of the disease and kept patients alive longer. Furthermore, 50 mg of prednisone every other day was well tolerated, which means that patients remain active and have a much better quality of life for longer. However, further studies will be conducted to examine whether prednisone is effective to prolong remission for patients with other cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma. In addition, other drug combinations that include prednisone will be evaluated as maintenance therapy for patients with multiple myeloma.

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In a clinical trial that was conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and part of the National Institutes of Health, it was revealed that a low dosage regimen of steroids can prove to be an excellent option for treating bone marrow cancer patients rather than persisting for the standard dose of dexamethasone.

The trial revealed that low doses of dexamethasone, a steroid, with lenalidomide can work wonders on patients who are fighting against newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. It was also revealed that the combination of dexamethasone and lenalidomide brought fewer side-effects.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells that are found in blood and bone marrow.

Survival chances improved considerably when a low dose of the steroid dexamethasone combined with lenalidomide was tried on patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The clinical trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by a network of researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

The significance of the results lies in that a low dose regimen has been found to be more effective than the standard dose of dexamethasone.

Researchers found that patients in the study who received a lower dose regimen had a one-year survival of 96 percent compared to 86 per cent for patients treated in the case of those with the standard-dose of dexamethasone and lenalidomide.

In addition, there were fewer side effects associated with the low-dose dexamethasone and lenalidomide.

As per noted study chair Vincent Rajkumar, the combination of lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone is extremely positive and truly represents a potential step ahead for treating multiple myeloma.

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As per a randomized clinical trial for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, low doses of the steroid, dexamethasone, along with lenalidomide can help in prolonging survival for multiple myeloma patients.

The trial was conducted by a network of researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

It was revealed during the trial that a combination of dexamethasone (low dosages) and lenalidomide is far effective than lenalidomide and higher doses of dexamethasone.

As per noted study chair Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, these results are expected to have major implications for therapy relevant to multiple myeloma, a cancer typically found in bone marrow.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

Preliminary results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, a cancer typically found in bone marrow, has shown that the use of a low dose of the steroid dexamethasone (Decadron ®), in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid ®) is associated with improved survival when compared to a treatment regimen with lenalidomide and a higher, standard dose of dexamethasone. The clinical trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by a network of researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

The data monitoring committee overseeing the trial (known as E4A03) recommended that the survival results from a recent interim analysis be made public because of early differences being seen in overall survival rates. Researchers found that patients in the study who received low-dose dexamethasone and lenalidomide had a one-year survival of 96 percent compared to 86 percent for patients treated with the standard-dose of dexamethasone and lenalidomide. In addition, there were fewer side effects associated with the low-dose dexamethasone and lenalidomide.

Rajkumar remarked that the results of this trial are very positive and can be seen as a potential real step ahead in the treatment of multiple myeloma.

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Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have reported that steroid pill treatment has the unique ability to improve the overall survival rate of patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow.

Multiple myeloma, a dreadful type of cancer, is considered to take lives of at least 14,000 people in the United States alone each year.

From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:

Multiple myeloma occurs when the body makes an abnormally high number of cancerous plasma cells. When healthy, plasma cells help to protect the body from infection and disease by forming antibodies that attack foreign substances. But when the body makes too many plasma cells that all make the same type of antibody, this leads to multiple myeloma, causing damage to bones, severe bone pain, an overabundance of calcium in the blood, anemia, and a weakening of the immune system. Today, most patients with multiple myeloma receive initial treatment with chemotherapy or with high-dose chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant and many respond to treatment and achieve remission. However, all patients ultimately relapse with incurable disease, leading physicians to search for ways to prolong remission for as long as possible by using some type of maintenance therapy.

James Berenson, M.D., lead author of the Southwest Oncology Group sponsored study and Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Bone Metastasis Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said that the usage of prednisone in response to an upfront chemotherapy is believed to be a safe, effective way to prolong the lives of patients suffering from Multiple Myeloma.

The researchers concluded that it was discovered that patients who have been receiving oral prednisone over a long and continuing term following chemotherapy treatment maintained their remission and lived longer.

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As per a randomized clinic trial for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, low doses of dexamethasone (Decadron ®) along with lenalidomide (Revlimid ®) are helpful in improving survival rates to a considerable extent. This combination proved to out to a better option against a combination of lenalidomide and a high dosage of dexamethasone.

The treatment method will help all those patients suffering from Multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of plasma cells found in blood and bone marrow.

The trial was a part of the National Institutes of Health, which was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and was conducted by researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

Preliminary results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, a cancer typically found in bone marrow, has shown that the use of a low dose of the steroid dexamethasone (Decadron ®), in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid ®) is associated with improved survival when compared to a treatment regimen with lenalidomide and a higher, standard dose of dexamethasone. The clinical trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by a network of researchers led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

The data monitoring committee overseeing the trial (known as E4A03) recommended that the survival results from a recent interim analysis be made public because of early differences being seen in overall survival rates. Researchers found that patients in the study who received low-dose dexamethasone and lenalidomide had a one-year survival of 96 percent compared to 86 percent for patients treated with the standard-dose of dexamethasone and lenalidomide. In addition, there were fewer side effects associated with the low-dose dexamethasone and lenalidomide. Detailed results from this trial will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, Ill., from June 1 to 5, 2007.

The new findings have been welcomed by all segments of the medical world and is seen as a real step forward in the right direction for treatment of Multiple Myeloma, as per study chair Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

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