Dr. Spencer on the Rationale to Evaluate Panobinostat in Multiple Myeloma

Andrew Spencer, MD, MBBS, FRACP, FRCPA, head of the Malignant Haematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Service at The Alfred Hospital, professor of Haematology at Monash University, head of the Myeloma Research Group and co-director of the ACRF Blood Cancer Therapeutics Centre at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, discusses the rationale to evaluate panobinostat (Farydak) in multiple myeloma.

Historically, disease control and survival outcomes have been improved with the introduction of immunomodulatory drugs and proteasome inhibitors (PIs), says Spencer. However, research efforts have since shifted to identify more agents with novel mechanisms of action.

To this end, HDAC inhibitors have demonstrated activity in patients with cancer and have pleiotropic modes of action, explains Spencer. Additionally, the combination of HDAC inhibitors with PIs appears to yield synergistic activity to effectively kill cancer cells; this provided the rationale to evaluate panobinostat in combination with subcutaneous bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone.

The panobinostat regimen demonstrated clinical activity with favorable outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in the phase 2 PANORAMA 3 trial.