Study shows benefit of new maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a form of cancer where the plasma cells in the bone marrow grow out of control, causing damage to bones as well as predisposing patients to anemia, infection and kidney failure. A medical procedure called autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, commonly known as a stem cell transplant, is frequently an important treatment option for many patients.

Unfortunately, multiple myeloma continues to progress even after a transplant. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine offers promising news about a new long-term therapy, lenalidomide (US biotech firm Celgene’s Revlimid), that can be used after transplantation to slow down the progression of the disease.

Thomas Shea, Director of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program and Associate Director for Outreach Programs at UNC Lineberger and Don Gabriel, Professor of Medicine in the division of hematology/oncology, were both co-authors on the clinical trial, which measured the effect of maintenance lenalidomide therapy on disease-free progression after transplant.