Maintenance Treatment of Multiple Myeloma (MM) After Autologous Peripheral Blood Transplant (PBSCT) Using Polyethylene Glycol alpha2B Interpheron (PEG-INTRON)

Summary

* Multiple myeloma accounts for approximately 1% of all cancers and 10% of hematologic malignancies. Between 50 and 70% of symptomatic patients presented response to induction chemotherapy. The rate of complete responses (CR) achieved with standard induction of these treatments is less than 5% of cases and the median event-free survival between 2 and 3 years although most of the patients died from the disease. * High dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplant has improved the response rate and survival of patient with MM. However eventually all patients relapse with a median EFS between 40-50 months post-transplant. * To improve these results and sustain remission, various maintenance treatment have been proposed as is the case of Interpheron alpha2b s.c. (Intron A) that has shown benefits in a meta-analysis. * Intron A s.c. need administration of 3 days per week and is not well tolerated * Recently a new formulation of Interpheron alpha2b is available. Conjugated with polietilenglicol (Pegintron) that need only one dose weekly and has not been tested in MM. * The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of Pegintron as maintenance after autologous transplant in MM

Timeline

Start

2002-09

Primary completion

2012-03

Completion

2012-03

Publications

• Background Blade J, Samson D, Reece D, Apperley J, Bjorkstrand B, Gahrton G, Gertz M, Giralt S, Jagannath S, Vesole D. Criteria for evaluating disease response and progression in patients with multiple myeloma treated by high-dose therapy and haemopoietic stem cell transplantation. Myeloma Subcommittee of the EBMT. European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplant. Br J Haematol. 1998 Sep;102(5):1115-23. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2141.1998.00930.x. No abstract available.
• Background Bjorkstrand B, Svensson H, Goldschmidt H, Ljungman P, Apperley J, Mandelli F, Marcus R, Boogaerts M, Alegre A, Remes K, Cornelissen JJ, Blade J, Lenhoff S, Iriondo A, Carlson K, Volin L, Littlewood T, Goldstone AH, San Miguel J, Schattenberg A, Gahrton G. Alpha-interferon maintenance treatment is associated with improved survival after high-dose treatment and autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple myeloma: a retrospective registry study from the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). Bone Marrow Transplant. 2001 Mar;27(5):511-5. doi: 10.1038/sj.bmt.1702826.

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Indications