Thalidomide News and Research

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Thalidomide is a drug that is used to treat multiple myeloma in patients who have just been diagnosed, and a painful skin disease related to leprosy. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Thalidomide belongs to the family of drugs called angiogenesis inhibitors. Also called Thalomid.

Roswell Park research aids development of myeloma drug

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) researchers played a leading role in clinical studies which led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new treatment for patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma - the second most common blood cancer.

11 Jul 2006

Thalomid gets FDA approval to treat multiple myeloma

Thalomid (thalidomide) has been given a new lease of life following the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug to be used in combination with the steroid dexamethasone for the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

29 May 2006

Natural killer cells and antibody-based immune function

A new drug may boost the effectiveness of a widely used treatment for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), while simultaneously overcoming drug resistance in those patients.

4 Apr 2006

First trial to combine a biologic agent with a conventional chemotherapy agent for the treatment of ovarian cancer

Researchers found the addition of thalidomide to topotecan for the treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer significantly increases the response to therapy and the duration of progression free survival without additional toxicity.

28 Mar 2006

Therapy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma remains inadequate

The recent FDA approvals of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors sorafenib and sunitinib based on their activity in metastatic renal cell carcinoma have excited the medical oncology community

9 Mar 2006

Thalidomide, Lenalidomide show promise against Lou Gehrig's disease

New animal research suggests that two well-studied drugs, thalidomide and its derivative, lenalidomide, might extend the survival of patients with the neurological disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

9 Mar 2006

Thalidomide improves remission in myeloma

Myeloma is one of the least curable cancers and involves plasma cells, the white blood cells that produce antibodies.

9 Mar 2006

Is there any role for thalidomide as a monotherapy in the management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma?

Thalidomide remains an enigma in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Initial clinical trials suggested a benefit, but more recently, subsequent randomized trials studying thalidomide in combination with other agents such as interferon have demonstrated no added benefit.

8 Mar 2006

Thalomid gives hope for blood cancer sufferers

Drug company Celgene says it has halted a pivotal-stage trial of its Thalomid drug earlier than expected after the drug was shown to dramatically limit the progress of the blood cancer multiple myeloma.

9 Jan 2006

HOXA1 is a gene that's been looking for a disorder for a long time

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, who specialize in studying the genetics of rare eye-movement disorders, have found a rare genetic syndrome whose implications go far beyond the eye, raising intriguing questions about human cardiovascular and brain development.

12 Sep 2005

Rev/Dex combo looks like a breakthrough treatment for multiple myeloma

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center investigators report that combination therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone (combination is called Rev/Dex) looks like a breakthrough treatment for multiple myeloma. Results of a Phase II clinical trial were published online Aug. 23 in Blood.

1 Sep 2005

Activist groups hinder important clinical trials of HIV medication

One promising approach to help stem the global HIV epidemic is to give commercial sex workers an HIV medication (such as the drug tenofovir) before they have high risk sex in the hope of reducing their chances of becoming infected, an approach called "pre-exposure prophylaxis" (PREP).

19 Jul 2005

Thalidomide may be a potent anti-cancer treatment

When people hear "thalidomide," many think "birth defects," however, evidence has come to light that this once-banned drug can be used as a potent anti-cancer treatment.

20 Jun 2005

Monitoring program has successfully identified a large number of previously unknown, serious and often-fatal drug reactions

A monitoring program developed by a Northwestern University researcher has successfully identified a large number of previously unknown, serious and often-fatal drug reactions associated with 15 commonly used drugs, including Plavix®, thalidomide and drug-coated cardiac stents.

3 May 2005

Fifteen-year hunt uncovers gene behind pseudothalidomide syndrome

A team of scientists from Colombia, the United States and elsewhere has successfully completed a 15-year-plus search for the genetic problems behind the very rare Roberts syndrome, whose physical manifestations often include cleft lip and palate and shortened limbs that resemble those of babies whose mothers took thalidomide during pregnancy.

11 Apr 2005

Thalidomide - new treatment for cancer

Thalidomide, famous in the 60's because of limb deformities in babies born to women who had taken it for morning sickness, was withdrawn in 1961. Now doctors say it could be used as a treatment for cancer.

8 Mar 2005

Thalidomide may have a new lease of life as a cancer treatment

The drug thalidomide may have a new lease of life as a cancer treatment. A small study published in Gut suggests that it slows down the weight loss and wasting associated with advanced disease in patients with pancreatic cancer.

7 Mar 2005

Dramatic changes in the way the FDA address patient safety are needed

Food and Drug Administration policies prevent pharmaceutical manufacturers from informing patients about potentially fatal toxicities that occur with some cancer drugs -- policies that should be revised immediately, according to Northwestern University researchers.

20 Dec 2004

Thiazolidinedione (TZD) class of anti-diabetic drugs may be a potential targeted therapy for myeloma patients

In laboratory tests on multiple myeloma cells, University of Rochester researchers found that this type of cancer expresses a protein that makes it an easy target for an existing class of diabetes drugs. After more investigation, they hope the discovery will lead to a new, targeted therapy for myeloma patients.

8 Dec 2004

Combination of thalidomide and dexamethasone may be a promising treatment for multiple myeloma

The combination of two pills -- thalidomide and dexamethasone -- may be an effective alternative to the intravenous chemotherapy commonly prescribed to patients with multiple myeloma, according to a large collaborative study conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and led by a Mayo Clinic investigator.

7 Dec 2004