REVLIMID® (lenalidomide)-Dexamethasone Combo, Effective in Multiple Myeloma

Filed in archive Cancer , Studies , Treatment on November 22, 2007

According to researchers at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, results from two large, international clinical trials showed that with the oral drug lenalidomide (REVLIMID®), in combination with the steroid dexamethasone, multiple myeloma patients significantly improved by all measures where previous treatments had failed.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer that occurs in the blood-making cells of bone marrow.

A product of Celgene, REVLIMID® (lenalidomide) is an oral medication which treats without the ravages of chemotherapy. It is a first in a new class of medications called immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) that works by attacking both the cancer cell and the micro-environment in which it lives in the bone marrow, thereby stopping the cells' ability to adhere to the wall of tissues where they will grow.

REVLIMID® (lenalidomide) may also inhibit cancer cells' ability to hide from the body's natural killer cells in the immune system by stopping angiogenesis - the growth of blood vessels that penetrate into and feed cancerous tumors causing them to proliferate.

On the other hand, dexamethasone is a corticosteroid that is similar to a natural hormone produced by your adrenal glands.

It often is used to replace this chemical when your body does not make enough of it. It relieves inflammation (swelling, heat, redness, and pain) and is used to treat certain forms of arthritis; skin, blood, kidney, eye, thyroid, and intestinal disorders (e.g., colitis); severe allergies; and asthma. Dexamethasone is also used to treat certain types of cancer.

Find more details from Science Daily.

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