Treatment for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has improved over the last decade due to the introduction of new drugs such as lenalidomide and bortezomib.

However, after receiving multiple treatments, MM patients often become resistant (refractory) to these drugs and have an average survival of only 9 months.

MM-003 is a large, multi-centre phase 3 study that assessed the efficacy and safety of a new drug, pomalidomide (POM) in combination with low-dose dexamethasone (POM LoDex) and compared this combination with high dose dexamethasone in MM patients with late stage disease which have previously failed lenalidomide and bortezomib.

The study gave clinical and statistically significant positive results. Both progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) significantly improved with POM LoDex, compared to high dose Dex (PFS: 4.0 months vs 1.9 months; OS: 12.7 vs 8.1 months).

POM LoDex has been shown to have a well-recognised safety profile, and the side effects were manageable, with only a small number of patients discontinuing treatment due to side effects.

Furthermore, patient quality of life appeared to improve with pomalidomide therapy, which is a key treatment goal in advanced disease. For these patients, whose disease no longer responds to current standards of care, pomalidomide in combination with low-dose dexamethasone has shown encouraging efficacy and safety for the management of advanced myeloma.

Pomalidomide was recently launched in the USA and is currently undergoing review in Europe, with a decision expected soon.

Source: EHA