Revlimid – Please Read!

[KP2112]

May 17, 8:24 PM EDT

Drug’s Effect on Cancer Stuns Doctors

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Medical Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — No one could have been more surprised than the doctors themselves. They were just hoping to relieve the symptoms of a deadly blood disorder – and ended up treating the disease itself. In nearly half of the people who took the experimental drug, the cancer became undetectable.

Specialists said Revlimid now looks like a breakthrough and the first effective treatment for many people with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, which is even more common than leukemia.

“It may be, if not eradicating the disease, putting it into what I would call deep remission,” said Dr. David Johnson, a cancer specialist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center who is familiar with but had no role in the research.

Revlimid “is not yet on the market but almost certainly will be” because of these findings, he said.

MDS refers to a group of disorders caused by the bone marrow not making enough healthy, mature blood cells. About 15,000 to 20,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, and as many as 50,000 Americans have it now. They usually suffer anemia and fatigue and need blood transfusions about every eight weeks to stay alive.

“It’s a serious problem, it tends to occur in older people, and it’s fatal for most,” said Dr. Herman Kattlove, a blood disorder specialist at the American Cancer Society.

Revlimid is similar to thalidomide, a drug notorious for the birth defects it caused decades ago but that in recent years has proved effective against another blood cancer, multiple myeloma. Researchers don’t really know how it works other than that it boosts the immune system in a number of ways.

In small studies, Revlimid also showed promise and with far fewer side effects. In a new study, doctors tested it on 115 people with MDS who have the most common chromosome abnormality that causes the disease.

After about six months on the drug, 66 percent no longer needed blood transfusions, said the study’s leader, Dr. Alan List of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. A year later, three-fourths of them still don’t need transfusions.

But the big surprise was that signs of the genetic mutation fueling the disease diminished in 81 patients and vanished in 51.

“The chromosome abnormality completely disappeared, something we’ve never seen before” from a drug aimed just at boosting red blood cells, List said.

Dr. Bruce Johnson of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston compared it with what doctors saw in early tests of the drug Gleevec on people with chronic myelogenous leukemia several years ago.

“If you extrapolate what they saw, it’s one of the signs for long remission,” he said of the abnormality’s disappearance.

Dr. Jasmine Zain, a blood specialist from the City of Hope Cancer Center in New York, said the results warrant further testing on the drug.

“Nowhere do you see 60 to 70 percent responses,” she said.

About one-third of people on the drug had temporary drops in other blood cells and clotting components, fixed by briefly interrupting treatment or lowering the dose.

The study was sponsored by Celgene Corp., which makes Revlimid. List is a consultant for the company and reported results Sunday at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando.

Kind Regards,
Karen P.

[Suzanne]

I thought this was an old article that I read over a year ago because the quotes and statistics were the same but did not want to say until I checked . It is, When I asked my doctors today they said someone finds it on the web and it starts circulating like new news. Anyway nothing dramatically new has happend with Revlimidas far as I could find out. It is a good drug, does work for some people but the trials mentioned involve relatively small groups. As usual they do not know why it works for some so they don’t take your case and say this is the drug for you and you have a –% chance it wil help. There are several drugs that each work for some patients.vidaza was also mentioned today. My doctor says since so far there is no miracle, that he believes the answer will be in combinations of drugs.No matter what we are all a lot better off then we were just a couple of years ago as far as knowledgeof dealing with the disease in the centers of excellence and options of drugs and treatment to try.

[KP2112]

Interesting that it is an old article. It was published in our Monday’s paper and I also heard a blurb about it on CNN. Well, maybe it is coming up again because of the conference regarding MDS just this past weekend. Regardless, it is good information to have…

[Suzanne]

it’s the List quote and the 115 people in the study that is familiar. I asked two Dr’s at Hopkins today-both do presentations Leukemiam & Lymphoma Society and the AA & MDS Foundation on new developments in treatment for MDS and neither knew of any new recent break through with Revlimid. The first person sent me info on this drug quoting similiar statistics and mentioning the possibility of early approval in 2003. It was called Revimis at that point the name was later changed to Revlimid

[Suzanne]

I put Revlimid in a search engine and did come up with some new news releases coming out of Florida where Dr. List is. From what I read there it looks like they have completed some more phase1/11 studies with more good results-some articles say better for low risk MDS. Another says it has been submitted for approval for use that fit the guidelines and have a 5q- chromosome change where they have gotten the best results. I know each institution keeps up most with the directions they are going with their research.I am very happy that more options seem to be talked about all the time.And if it has been submitted for approval even for a select group that would be the third drug in for approval when a year ago there were none even in the pipeline for approval.

[KP2112]

Suzanne,

I could not agree with you more.

Karen

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