ASH Clinical News January 2016 | Page 39

CLINICAL NEWS Carfilzomib Combination for Salvage Therapy in Multiple Myeloma: Results from a Real-World Setting Despite the recent approval of several new drugs in multiple myeloma (MM), including proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory agents, the treatment of patients with relapsed and/or refractory disease is still challenging. The proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib was approved by the U.S. FDA in July 2012 based on data from a phase II trial showing an overall response rate (ORR) of 23.4 percent and a median response duration of 7.8 months. These outcomes though, may differ in a non–clinical trial, real-world setting. In a retrospective, multicenter study recently published in Blood, Eli Muchtar, MD, from the Institute of Hematology at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel, and colleagues examined the safety and efficacy of carfilzomib in patients with relapsed/refractory MM in 10 medical centers across Israel. “Carfilzomib, especiall