Drug Can Extend Life for Multiple Myeloma Patients

4 December 2010 - Adding a second drug to standard chemotherapy treatment can help patients diagnosed with an aggressive type of bone marrow cancer live longer, a Phase III trial led by the Institute of Cancer Research found.

Average survival after diagnosis with multiple myeloma is just three to five years so new treatment options are urgently needed.

Professor Gareth Morgan from the ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust led a study of 1960 newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma patients comparing a zoledronic acid treatment called Zometa, developed by Novartis, with another standard approved treatment called clodronic acid. Zoledronic acid and clodronic acid are both widely available bisphosphonates, which are already prescribed to cancer patients to reduce bone complications such as fractures, lesions and spinal cord compression. All patients on the Medical Research Council (MRC) Myeloma IX study were also given chemotherapy.

Patients in the zoledronic acid group lived an average of 5.5 months longer than patients in the clodronic acid group (50 months versus 44.5 months). Patients in the test group were 16 per cent less likely than those in the control group to succumb to the disease during the trial, which run from May 2003 until November 2007. Zoledronic acid also reduced by 24 per cent the development of new bone lesions compared to clodronic acid.

“Our study provides strong evidence that zoledronic acid should become part of the new gold standard care,” said Professor Morgan.