Dr. Philip L. McCarthy on Maintenance therapy for Multiple Myeloma

Philip McCarthy, BA, MD, professor of oncology and internal medicine director, blood and marrow transplant program, Roswell Park Cancer Institute discusses maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma patients that are eligible for transplant.

Bortezomib has been looked at as a maintenance therapy for transplant eligible multiple myeloma patients in several studies, said McCarthy. Previous studies have shown that up to three years of bortezomib with thalidomide will improve progression-free survival (PFS).

More recent studies have shown that two years of bortezomib after bortezomib induction improves PFS and causes a survival benefit, although it is modest.

Lenalidomide has also been studied as a maintenance therapy for transplant eligible multiple myeloma patients in three large studies, presented in a meta analysis at the EHA and ASCO meetings this year. The studies included a total of 1,200 patients. There was a PFS benefit in all three studies and a 72% 7-year survival benefit with lenalidomide compared to 50% with placebo. The median overall survival has not been met in the lenalidomide maintenance group.