EHA 2014: Celgene announces results on Pomalyst, Vidaza and beta-thalassemia collaboration

Among companies presenting results from across the board at the European Hematology Association annual congress in Milan, Italy, was US biotech company Celgene Corp (Nasdaq: CELG).

Wholly-owned subsidiary Celgene International announced results from a retrospective analysis of MM-003, the company’s Phase III study of pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone compared with high-dose dexamethasone in patients with refractory multiple myeloma who have failed therapy with both bortezomib and lenalidomide, administered either alone or in combination.

Pomalidomide is marketed as Pomalyst in the USA and Imnovid in Europe. More than 50% of the patients who received high-dose dexamethasone during the study crossed over to receive subsequent pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone. As such, the goal of this retrospective analysis was to estimate the difference in overall survival between the two arms of the study after adjusting for those patients who crossed over and received subsequent pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone. The overall survival with the combination of pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone was 12.7 months, compared to 5.7 months with high-dose dexamethasone.