Celgene says Revlimid delays multiple myeloma

Celgene Corp. on Monday said initial results from two pivotal-stage trials show that its blood cancer drug Revlimid (lenalidomide) in combination with chemotherapy significantly delays progression of multiple myeloma in relapsed patients.

At the time of the interim analysis, the median time to progression for patients in the U.S. trial was at least 15 months and for the international trial more than 11 months. Patients treated with only chemotherapy in both trials had a median time to progression of five months, the company said.

"In multiple myeloma patients with resistant disease, Revlimid plus dexamethasone more than doubled the response rate compared with desamethasone alone, confirming that Revlimid has the potential to be an important new agent for multiple myeloma," Dr. Donna Weber, associate professor, lymphoma/myeloma at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a statement.

Celegene said it plans to use data from both trials as the basis for marketing applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulatory agencies in other countries.

The studies were presented at the International Multiple Myeloma Workshop in Sydney, Australia.