Life span of multiple myeloma patients may be doubled

Patients with multiple myeloma may have a chance to live longer, going by the encouraging results of a study — led by Singapore General Hospital's (SGH) Department of Haematology, in collaboration with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, National University Hospital System Singapore and Tan Tock Seng Hospital — which demonstrates that the average survival of patients could be prolonged from the dismal 4 years to as long as 8 years; says a press release by Singapore General Hospital.
Multiple myeloma is an incurable rare blood cancer. Unfortunately, most people who develop multiple myeloma have no clearly identifiable risk factors for the disease but factors such as individuals older than 50 years of age, men and obesity, may predispose one to the cancer.
With conventional treatment such as chemotherapy, including stem cell transplantation, average survival is only about 4 years. Most therapies eventually lose their effectiveness and patients inevitably suffer a relapse. Treatment options become limited and chances of remission get slimmer. In such situations, doctors may recommend repeating the same course of treatment or trying one or more of the other front line therapies.
In 2005, a novel drug called bortezomib was approved by Singapore Health Sciences Authority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in relapsed multiple myeloma after promising results from clinical trials emerged.
The positive impact of bortezomib on relapsed patients has led doctors to wonder if other patients would benefit from the drug if it was given when they were first diagnosed.
Their efforts paid-off when survival of multiple myeloma patients in Singapore was evaluated. Their strategy of offering bortezomib to high-risk patients as front line therapy has significantly improved survival from an average of 4 years to as long as 8 years.