Hope for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma

In an oral presentation at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), Cell Therapeutics presented data on a preliminary experience with an investigational regimen combining low dose chemotherapy (melphalan), Trisenox (arsenic trioxide), and vitamin C (MAC regimen). The combination produced a high rate of long-lasting responses in ten heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. One of the most important outcomes of this experience was the ability of the MAC regimen to improve kidney function in patients with severe myeloma kidney damage, preventing the need for those patients with kidney dysfunction to go on dialysis. In addition, the regimen was well tolerated by patients. These encouraging results served as the basis for an ongoing multicentre phase II study of this regimen

'The rapid responses and high response rates seen with the MAC regimen are impressive, particularly since several of the patients in this group were refractory to melphalan. This experience supports the preclinical findings that Trisenox, when used in combination, can sensitize tumor cells to other agents,' said Dr James Berenson,of the Institute for Myeloma and Bone Cancer Research. 'The ability of the MAC regimen to overcome chemotherapy-resistance in patients who have relapsed following multiagent chemotherapy regimens or treatment with agents like thalidomide and bortezomib treatment is exciting and has prompted further investigation of the MAC combination in a large multicentre study.'