Venetoclax Combination Therapy for Resistant Multiple Myeloma
Posted: Thursday, January 3, 2019
An ongoing phase II, dose-escalation study, presented at the 2018 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract 303) in San Diego, suggests that venetoclax plus carfilzomib and dexamethasone is safe and tolerable in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Luciano J. Costa, MD, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues observed comparable response rates among high-risk patients and the overall population but noted that a subset of patients with t(11;13) achieved the highest responses.
The study enrolled 42 eligible patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who had no history of exposure to carfilzomib. Patients received the combination therapy until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
Overall, 13 patients discontinued the study due to disease progression (n = 4), death (n = 3), physician decision (n = 2), withdrawal of consent (n = 2), lack of efficacy (n = 1), or adverse events (n = 1). Of the remaining patients (n = 29), the overall response rate was 78%, and 56% of patients achieved a very good partial response or better. The median time to first response was 1.9 months. The 8 patients with t(11;13) achieved a 100% overall response rate, and 88% of them showed a very good partial response or better.
All patients experienced at least a single adverse event, and 13 individuals reported at least a single serious adverse event. Grade 3 and 4 adverse events that occurred in more than 10% of patients included decreased lymphocyte count (26%), decreased neutrophil count (14%), and hypertension (12%).
Disclosure: Study authors’ disclosure information may be found at ASH.com
