Dexamethasone With or Without Thalidomide in Treating Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop cancer cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Thalidomide may stop the growth of cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor. Combining dexamethasone and thalidomide may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known whether dexamethasone is more effective with or without thalidomide in treating multiple myeloma. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of dexamethasone with or without thalidomide in treating patients who have multiple myeloma.

Timeline

Start

2002-04

Primary completion

2006-03

Completion

2006-06

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper The response rate with thalidomide plus dexamethasone was significantly higher than with dexamethasone alone (63% v 41%, respectively; P = .0017). PMID 16365178 ↗

Publications

• Background Ballester O. The emperor's new clothes or the current practice of clinical trials for multiple myeloma in the USA. Cancer Invest. 2008 Jun;26(5):445-7. doi: 10.1080/07357900701874641.
• Background Johnson DC, Corthals S, Ramos C, Hoering A, Cocks K, Dickens NJ, Haessler J, Goldschmidt H, Child JA, Bell SE, Jackson G, Baris D, Rajkumar SV, Davies FE, Durie BG, Crowley J, Sonneveld P, Van Ness B, Morgan GJ. Genetic associations with thalidomide mediated venous thrombotic events in myeloma identified using targeted genotyping. Blood. 2008 Dec 15;112(13):4924-34. doi: 10.1182/blood-2008-02-140434. Epub 2008 Sep 19.
• Results Kumar S, Greipp PR, Haug JL, et al.: Correlation of bone marrow angiogenesis and response to thalidomide dexamethasone in multiple myeloma. [Abstract] J Clin Oncol 24 (Suppl 18): A-7621, 451s, 2006.
• Results Rajkumar SV, Blood E, Vesole D, Fonseca R, Greipp PR; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Phase III clinical trial of thalidomide plus dexamethasone compared with dexamethasone alone in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: a clinical trial coordinated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. J Clin Oncol. 2006 Jan 20;24(3):431-6. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2005.03.0221. Epub 2005 Dec 19.
• Results Greipp PR. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group E1A00: phase III randomized study of dexamethasone with or without thalidomide in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Clin Adv Hematol Oncol. 2003 Mar;1(3):188-9. No abstract available.

Drugs

Indications