Adherence to and effectiveness of lenalidomide after 1 year of treatment in a real world setting

Background: In combination with dexamethasone, lenalidomide is prescribed in the oral treatment of Multiple Myeloma for patients who have received at least one previous therapy. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate medication adherence to lenalidomide of Multiple Myeloma patients, as well as Progression Free Survival and Overall Survival one year from the beginning of the treatment. Setting: The study was carried out in Pescara Hospital, in Italy. All Multiple Myeloma patients who began lenalidomide therapy between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2016 were included in our study. Methods: Adherence to treatment was calculated by using the ratio between the Received Daily Dose and the Prescribed Daily Dose. Effectiveness in real world has been evaluated as Progression Free Survival and Overall Survival one year from the beginning of the treatment.Main outcomes measure: We assessed medication adherence and effectiveness of lenalidomide in the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. Results: Adherence to the overall mean treatment was 0.73 ± 0.15, relative to 81 patients evaluated in our study. 32% of patients achieved an adherence equal to or greater than 80%. Real-life effectiveness in terms of Progression Free Survival and Overall Survival showed values of ​​53.75% and 88%, respectively, one year from the beginning of treatment. Conclusion: The analysis of adherence in Multiple Myeloma patients treated with lenalidomide one year from the beginning of therapy reveal a concerning lack of adherence. Moreover, the lack of correlation of the levels of adherence with patient-related variables shows that, in the case of Multiple Myeloma, adherence is not related to personal, social and environmental characteristics that may determine each patient's correct treatment implementation, but is directly influenced by disease evolution

Preferential patterns of myocardial iron deposit by multislice multiecho T2* CMR in thalassemia major patients

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Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in the treatment of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Peg-Doxo) is a promising drug for advanced/recalcitrant primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs). This prospective phase II trial enrolled 19 patients. We observed overall and complete response rates of 84.2% and 42.1% (with no significant differences between stage I–IIA and IIB–IV patients), and 11% grade III/IV toxicity. After a maximum 46 month-follow-up, median overall (OS), event-free (EFS) and progression-free (PFS) survival were 34, 18 and 19 months. OS, EFS and PFS rates at 46 months were 44%, 30% and 37% respectively. Peg-Doxo seems to be an active and safe principle that should be used in plurirelapsed, early stage-MF and in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents in advanced and aggressive CTCLs

Outcome and toxicity in the modern era of new drugs for multiple myeloma: A reappraisal for comparison with future investigational trials

The introduction of new drugs such as thalidomide, lenalidomide, and bortezomib has led to novel treatment strategies and significantly improved the outcome of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The enhanced knowledge of myeloma pathogenesis has allowed the identification of new therapeutic targets and many clinical trials are either planned or in progress to evaluate these more selective drugs in the near future. The results of these studies, however, will have to be compared with the results of existing novel therapies for the treatment of MM in order to define whether new protocols do not duplicate current new standards and constitute a real improvement. We reviewed the results of a series of phase I, II, III studies with thalidomide, lenalidomide, and bortezomib combinations for newly diagnosed MM in order to define a reasonable standard in terms of activity, efficacy, and toxicity and to have a potentially useful starting point for comparisons with future investigational trials. Three-drug regimens appear to double the complete remission (CR) rate (20%), though regimens containing 4 drugs triple the CR rate (30%), compared with those containing only 2 agents (10%). These improvements in the depth and quality of response translate into a progressive increase in the progression-free survival rate at 2 years (from approximately 54%-62% to 75%, respectively). Conversely, by using additional agents, a marked increase in hematologic toxicity has been described (8%, 28%, and 28% respectively), whereas nonhematologic toxicity appears to be similar (26%, 24%, and 27%, respectively). These results suggest that new trials in the future will constitute significant progress if they can improve on the current relatively favorable efficacy/toxicity ratio. Nonetheless, exciting new combinations in development do hold promise and results from these studies are eagerly awaited