Conditions: Stage I Multiple Myeloma Stage II Multiple Myeloma Stage III Multiple Myeloma
Keywords: Consolidation therapy First-line therapy Proteasome inhibitor Thalidomide analogue Quality of life
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 48
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This randomized phase III trial compares bortezomib, dexamethasone, and lenalidomide with bortezomib and dexamethasone to see how well they work in treating patients with multiple myeloma previously treated with dexamethasone. Bortezomib may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dexamethasone, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Lenalidomide may stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop cancer cells from growing. It is not yet known whether giving bortezomib and dexamethasone is more effective with or without lenalidomide in treating multiple myeloma.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To compare the progression-free survival (PFS) for two consolidation regimens: bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRD) versus bortezomib and dexamethasone (VD) only.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine the incremental ability of VRD versus VD in attaining a complete response or a very good partial response (VGPR) in patients receiving induction therapy with a dexamethasone based induction regimen.

II. To compare the overall survival, measured from the time of study entry.

III. Evaluate response rate and PFS according to cytogenetic category (by gene expression and fluorescence in situ hybridization \[FISH\]).

IV. To evaluate the toxicity of the two regimens.

V. To compare quality of life (QOL) based on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT)-Neurotoxicity (Ntx) Trial Outcome Index (TOI) of patients receiving VD to those receiving VRD from registration to 6 months post consolidation treatment.

VI. To examine the impact of differential treatment response (PFS), if observed, on QOL based on the FACT-Ntx TOI up to 12 months post consolidation treatment.

VII. To obtain prospective data on multiple myeloma specific QOL attributes.

OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

ARM A: Patients receive bortezomib at 1.3 mg/m2 intravenously (IV) on days 1, 4, 8, and 11, lenalidomide orally (PO) once daily (QD) at 15 mg on days 1-14, and dexamethasone at 40 mg total dose per day PO QD on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 8 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

ARM B: Patients receive bortezomib at 1.3 mg/m2 IV on days 1, 4, 8, and 11 and dexamethasone at 40 mg total dose per day PO QD on days 1, 8, and 15. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 8 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then every 12 months for 5 years.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients were given consolidation therapy for 8 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) with the combination bortezomib, dexamethasone and lenalidomide. Patients received each cycle: the standard dose of bortezomib (1.3 mg/m2) on days 1, 4, 8 and 11; fixed dose of lenalidomide at 15 mg orally on days 1-14; and 3 days of dexamethasone at 40 mg total dose per day given on days 1, 8 and 15. Aspirin 325 mg/day orally on days 1-21 of each cycle was required unless the patient was treated with alternate prophylaxis of either low molecular weight heparin or coumadin. arm 2: Patients were given consolidation therapy for 8 cycles (1 cycle = 21 days) with the combination bortezomib plus dexamethasone. Patients received each cycle: the standard dose of bortezomib (1.3 mg/m2) on days 1, 4, 8 and 11 and 3 days of dexamethasone at 40 mg total dose per day given on days 1, 8 and 15.

Interventions: intervention 1: bortezomib intervention 2: lenalidomide intervention 3: dexamethasone
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given IV intervention 2: Given PO intervention 3: Given PO

Protocol document: