A multivariate analysis of the relationship between response and survival among patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes treated within azacitidine or conventional care regimens in the randomized AZA-001 trial.

The phase III AZA-001 study established that azacitidine significantly improves overall survival compared with conventional care regimens (hazard ratio 0.58 [95% confidence interval 0.43–0.77], P<0.001). This analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between treatment response and overall survival. AZA-001 data were analyzed in a multivariate Cox regression analysis with response as a time-varying covariate. Response categories were “Overall Response” (defined as complete remission, partial remission, or any hematologic improvement) and “Stable Disease” (no complete or partial remission, hematologic improvement, or progression) or “Other” (e.g. disease progression). Achieving an Overall Response with azacitidine reduced risk of death by 95% compared with achieving an Overall Response with the conventional care regimens (hazard ratio 0.05 [95%CI: 0.01–0.43], P=0.006). Sensitivity analyses indicated that significantly improved overall survival remained manifest for patients with a hematologic improvement who had never achieved complete or partial remission (hazard ratio 0.19 [95%CI: 0.08–0.46], P<0.001). Stable Disease in both azacitidine-treated and conventional care-treated patients was also associated with a significantly reduced risk of death (hazard ratio 0.09, [95%CI: 0.06–0.15]; P<0.001). These results demonstrate azacitidine benefit on overall survival compared with conventional care regimens in patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes who achieve hematologic response but never attain complete or partial remission, in addition to the survival advantage conferred by achievement of complete or partial remission. This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00071799)

Alendronate and atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials

Bone and mineral researc

Genome Wide Association Study to predict severe asthma exacerbations in children using random forests classifiers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Personalized health-care promises tailored health-care solutions to individual patients based on their genetic background and/or environmental exposure history. To date, disease prediction has been based on a few environmental factors and/or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), while complex diseases are usually affected by many genetic and environmental factors with each factor contributing a small portion to the outcome. We hypothesized that the use of random forests classifiers to select SNPs would result in an improved predictive model of asthma exacerbations. We tested this hypothesis in a population of childhood asthmatics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, using emergency room visits or hospitalizations as the definition of a severe asthma exacerbation, we first identified a list of top Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) SNPs ranked by Random Forests (RF) importance score for the CAMP (Childhood Asthma Management Program) population of 127 exacerbation cases and 290 non-exacerbation controls. We predict severe asthma exacerbations using the top 10 to 320 SNPs together with age, sex, pre-bronchodilator FEV1 percentage predicted, and treatment group.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Testing in an independent set of the CAMP population shows that severe asthma exacerbations can be predicted with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) = 0.66 with 160-320 SNPs in comparison to an AUC score of 0.57 with 10 SNPs. Using the clinical traits alone yielded AUC score of 0.54, suggesting the phenotype is affected by genetic as well as environmental factors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study shows that a random forests algorithm can effectively extract and use the information contained in a small number of samples. Random forests, and other machine learning tools, can be used with GWAS studies to integrate large numbers of predictors simultaneously.</p

Impact of lenalidomide dose on progression-free survival in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma

This analysis assessed the effect of lenalidomide on progression-free survival (PFS). Patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who received lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in the MM-009 and MM-010 trials were pooled and those who had not progressed and were still receiving lenalidomide at 12 months were included. The median follow-up of surviving patients was 48 months. Of 353 patients who received lenalidomide plus dexamethasone, 116 (33%) had not progressed. Overall, 52 patients (45%) had no dose reductions, 25 (22%) had dose reductions &gt;= 12 months and 39 (34%) had dose reductions before 12 months. Patients who had dose reductions &gt;= 12 months had a significantly longer median PFS than those who had reductions before 12 months (P = 0.007) or no dose reductions (P = 0.039) (not reached vs 28.0 vs 36.8 months, respectively). In a multivariate Cox regression model, dose reduction &gt;= 12 months was an independent predictor of improved PFS (hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.23-0.98) after adjusting for patient characteristics. The data suggest that to achieve maximum PFS benefit, patients with RRMM should be treated for &gt;= 12 months with full-dose lenalidomide plus dexamethasone. Thereafter, patients may benefit from lower-dose continued therapy; prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings. Leukemia (2011) 25, 1620-1626; doi:10.1038/leu.2011.126; published online 12 July 201

Real-world analysis of the Celgene Global Drug Safety database: early discontinuation of lenalidomide in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes due to non-serious rash

Lilia Weiss,1 Dianna Gary,1 Arlene S Swern,2 John Freeman,1 Mary M Sugrue3 1Global Drug Safety, Celgene Corporation, Summit, 2Biometrics, Celgene Corporation, Berkeley Heights, 3Medical Affairs, Celgene Corporation, Summit, NJ, USA Background: Lenalidomide is approved for treating transfusion-dependent anemia due to lower-risk del(5q) myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). In clinical trials, rash was common, although severe rash was infrequent. To examine rash in patients with MDS treated with lenalidomide in the real world, the Celgene Global Drug Safety database was analyzed and compared with clinical trials.Materials and methods: Adverse event reports in the post-marketing setting and in the MDS-003/004 clinical trials were analyzed by action taken with lenalidomide, seriousness/grade, time to onset, and treatment duration.Results: Globally, 16,942 reports representing 36,793 adverse events from the post-marketing setting were submitted to the Global Drug Safety database between December 27, 2005 and June 13, 2013. Most rash adverse events were non-serious (Global Drug Safety database, 91%) or grade 1/2 (MDS-003/004 trials, 87%&ndash;93%). Unexpectedly, rash, occurring at a median of 9 days after treatment initiation, was the leading cause of permanent discontinuation of lenalidomide. Seventy-two percent of non-serious rash adverse events led to early permanent discontinuation within two cycles, while in the MDS-003/004 pivotal clinical trials, only 2%&ndash;3% of rash adverse events led to permanent discontinuation.Conclusion: Non-serious rash was the most common reason for permanent discontinuation of lenalidomide in real-world settings. Managing lenalidomide-related rash using published recommendations might improve treatment duration and optimize patient outcomes. Keywords: adverse events, safety, post-marketing setting&nbsp

Lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone improves survival and time-to-progression in patients ≥65 years old with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Two pivotal, phase III, randomised, placebo-controlled, registration trials (MM-009 and MM-010) showed that lenalidomide plus dexamethasone was more effective than placebo plus dexamethasone in the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. This pooled, retrospective subanalysis of MM-009 and MM-010 analysed outcomes according to patient age. A total of 704 patients (390 aged <65 years, 232 aged 65-74 years, and 82 aged ≥75 years) received lenalidomide or placebo, both in combination with dexamethasone. The overall response rate (ORR) was significantly higher in patients treated with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone versus placebo plus dexamethasone in all age groups (P < 0.0001 for all). Median progression-free survival (PFS) and median time-to-progression (TTP) were similar, and both were significantly longer with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in all age groups (P < 0.001 for all). Median overall survival (OS) favoured lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in all age groups, although the difference was not statistically significant. Adverse events of anaemia, febrile neutropenia, deep-vein thrombosis, neuropathy, and gastrointestinal disorders increased with age. Lenalidomide combined with dexamethasone improved the ORR and prolonged PFS, TTP, and OS compared with placebo plus dexamethasone, irrespective of age. This finding was consistent with the overall MM-009 and MM-010 populations