Cancer Treatment Today

Carfilzomib(Kyprolis) is a newly approve drug for multiple myeloma. (Onyx Pharmaceuticals) is similar to Velcade. KYPROLIS is indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy. It is a proteasome inhibitor that inhibits the breakdown of proteins in cancer cells, thereby triggering their death. The approval was based on several clinical trials that were presented at the 2012 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in 2012. Three Phase 1/2 clinical trials showed that several carfilzomib (Kyprolis) combinations are effective for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. Researchers involved in each of these clinical trials presented the results during oral presentations at the ASCO meeting.

Single-agent carfilzomib shows promise for post-transplant maintenance therapy in responders to transplant, according to data from a phase I/II clinical trial. However, it is not sufficiently proven,e especially against Revlimid maintenance, and is still studied.

Sengsayadeth S, Malard F, Savani BN, Garderet L, Mohty M. Posttransplant maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma: the changing landscape. Blood Cancer J. 2017;7(3):e545. Published 2017 Mar 24. doi:10.1038/bcj.2017.23

NCCN, Myeloma 2019

Costa LJ, Landau H, Chhabra S, et al. A phase 1/2 trial of carfilzomib + high-dose melphalan conditioning for auto-HCT followed by carfilzomib maintenance for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. Presented at: BMT Tandem Meetings; February 23-26, 2017; Orlando, Florida.

Sengsayadeth S, Malard F, Savani BN, Garderet L, Mohty M. Posttransplant maintenance therapy in multiple myeloma: the changing landscape. Blood Cancer J. 2017;7(3):e545. Published 2017 Mar 24. doi:10.1038/bcj.2017.23