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Newly developed effective anti‐cancer drugs targeting multiple myeloma
Author(s) -
Sze Daniel ManYuen,
Hou Jian,
Zhou Lily
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.20275
Subject(s) - medicine , thalidomide , multiple myeloma , lenalidomide , cancer , bortezomib , oncology , melphalan , clinical trial , prednisone , drug , disease , pharmacology
Multiple myeloma (MM) is considered predominantly a cancer of the elderly with a median patient age of 60–65 years at diagnosis and 88% of patients being over 55 years. The disease has remained incurable with a mean survival period of about 3 years for the last 30 years. In the last decade, three useful cancer drugs, namely, thalidomide, lenalidomide, and bortezomib, have been approved by the FDA to append the armamentarium of MM chemotherapy other than the standard combination of melphalan and prednisone that have been used since the 1960 s. Many clinical trials supported by in vitro laboratory investigations have been conducted to understand both the efficacy and mechanisms of the action of these cancer drugs. This brief review aims to provide an overview of new cancer drugs targeting MM and discuss the development of novel strategies for targeting this incurable disease. Drug Dev Res 69:451–459, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.