Transitioning from parenteral bortezomib-based induction to all-oral ixazomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone therapy increased proteasome inhibitor (PI)–based treatment adherence and duration, according to early results from a clinical trial designed to include patients representing the real-world U.S. multiple myeloma population.
The US MM-6 study was designed to evaluate a novel in-class therapy (iCT) transitioning approach from intravenous to oral treatment in the community-based setting with the aims of increasing PI-based treatment duration and adherence, maintaining health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and improving outcomes in a representative, real-world, community population of multiple myeloma patients, according to Sudhir Manda, MD, of Arizona Oncology/U.S. Oncology Research, Tucson, and colleagues.
Dr. Manda and colleagues reported on the early results of the US MM-6 trial (NCT03173092), which is a community-based, real-world, open-label, single-arm, phase 4 study of adult multiple myeloma patients who do not meet transplant-eligibility criteria, or for whom transplant would be delayed for 2 years or more, and who are receiving first-line bortezomib-based induction. All patients in the study had no evidence of progressive disease after three treatment cycles.
By the data cutoff for the reported analysis, 84 patients had been treated. The patients had a median age of 73 years; 49% were men; 15% black/African American; 10% Hispanic/Latino. A total of 62% of the patients remain on therapy, with a mean duration of total PI therapy of 10.1 months and of ixazomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone (ixazomib-Rd) of 7.3 months.
The overall response rate was 62% (complete response, 4%; very good partial response, 25%; partial response, 33%) after bortezomib-based induction and 70% (complete response, 26%; very good partial response, 29%; partial response, 15%) after induction to all-oral ixazomib-Rd.
“The use of this novel iCT approach from parenteral bortezomib-based to oral ixazomib-based therapy facilitates long-term PI-based treatment that is well tolerated in real-world, nontransplant [newly diagnosed multiple myeloma] patients,” according to Dr. Manda and colleagues. In addition, “preliminary findings indicate that the iCT approach results in promising efficacy and high medication adherence, with no adverse impact on patients’ HRQoL or treatment satisfaction.”
The study was sponsored by Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Four of the authors are employees of Millennium Pharmaceuticals and several authors disclosed relationships with various pharmaceutical companies, including Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
SOURCE: Manda S et al. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2020 Jun 30. doi: 10.1016/j.clml.2020.06.024.