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Response to salvage therapies and outcome in patients with multiple myeloma relapsing after pomalidomide therapy

Leukemia volume 26, pages 839–841 (2012)Cite this article

Significant advances have been made in the therapeutic landscape of Multiple Myeloma (MM) in the past decade with the introduction of novel therapies such as thalidomide, lenalidomide and the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib.1, 2, 3 These drugs have improved survival in MM, but without a definite cure.4 Pomalidomide is the newest immunomodulatory drug to be evaluated in clinical trials and has shown considerable efficacy.5, 6 Phase I/II trials of pomalidomide combined with low-dose dexamethasone have reported partial response (PR) rates of 29–63% in relapsed MM, including in patients refractory to other IMiDs or bortezomib.7, 8, 9, 10 It is not clear how patients respond to existing therapies, once the disease becomes refractory to pomalidomide. We examined this question among patients receiving pomalidomide therapy in a phase 2 trial.

Patients enrolled in an ongoing phase 2 trial of pomalidomide and dexamethasone for relapsed myeloma, who subsequently have gone off study for disease progression, form the study population.7, 8 Several cohorts of patients (⩾3 prior therapies not specified, lenalidomide refractory and lenalidomide and bortezomib refractory patients) were enrolled sequentially in this trial.7, 11 Details of subsequent therapies and survival data were obtained from medical records. Approval from the Mayo Foundation Institutional Review Board was obtained in accordance with federal regulations and the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the Paul Calabresi Award for Clinical Oncology, CA90628 (SKK) and the Hematologic Malignancies Program (Mayo Clinic).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    S Sinha, M Lacy, S Hayman, F Buadi, K Detweiler-Short, A Dispenzieri, M Gertz, D Dingli, S V Rajkumar & S K Kumar

  2. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ, USA

    J Mikhael

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  1. S Sinha
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  2. M Lacy
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  3. J Mikhael
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  4. S Hayman
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  5. F Buadi
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  6. K Detweiler-Short
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  7. A Dispenzieri
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  8. M Gertz
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  11. S K Kumar
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Correspondence to S K Kumar.

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Competing interests

MQL has received research funding from Celgene; JM has receivedresearch funding from Celgene, Onyx, Novartis; AD has received research funding from Celgene and Travel award binding site; MAG has received Honoraria from Celgene, Millenium, Neotope Eisai, Inc., Lilly Research Laboratories, Optum Health Education, Research to Practice, Physician's Education Resource and Amgen, Inc.; and SKK has received research funding from Celegene, Genzyme, Millenium, Novartis, Bayer, Merck and Cephalon, and has participated in Advisory board for Genzyme. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Sinha, S., Lacy, M., Mikhael, J. et al. Response to salvage therapies and outcome in patients with multiple myeloma relapsing after pomalidomide therapy. Leukemia 26, 839–841 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2011.279

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