Pooled analysis of pomalidomide for treating patients with multiple myeloma.
BACKGROUND
Patients with refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma are considered to have a very poor prognosis, and new regimens are needed to improve this setting. Pomalidomide is a new immunomodulatory drug with high in vitro potency. Immunomodulatory drugs are hypothesized to act through multiple mechanisms. Here we performed a systemic analysis to evaluate pomalidomide-based chemotherapy (pomalidomide in combination with low-dose dexamethasone) as salvage treatment for patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma.


METHODS
Clinical studies evaluating the efffectiveness of pomalidomide based regimens on response and safety for patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma were identified using a predefined search strategy. Pooled response rate (RR) of treatment were calculated.


RESULTS
For pomalidomide based regimens, 4 clinical studies which including 291 patients with refractory and relapsed multiple myeloma were considered eligible for inclusion. Systemic analysis suggested that, in all patients, pooled RR was 41.2% (120/291). Major adverse effects were hematologic toxicity, including grade 1 or 2 anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia with pomalidomide based treatment. No treatment related death occurred.


CONCLUSIONS
This pooled analysis suggests that pomalidomide in combination with low-dose dexamethasone is active with good tolerability in treating patients with refractory or relapsed multiple myeloma.
The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow, Jiangsu, China E-mail : huilin_966@126.com.
Jia-Jia
JJ
Sun
Chi
C
Zhang
Jun
J
Zhou
Hui-Lin
HL
Yang
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D013792:Thalidomide / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D013792:Thalidomide; C467566:pomalidomide