Latest Thalidomide Stories

Vion Pharmaceuticals has reported positive data from a previously conducted Phase II trial of its lead anticancer agent Cloretazine in elderly patients with acute myelogenous leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. The company presented the data in a subset of 26 patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) by French-American-British Group criteria. The median age of the patients in the subset was 71 years (range of 59-82 years). Approximately 12 patients were diagnosed...

Celgene International Sarl (Nasdaq:CELG) announced that data presented today at the 13th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Copenhagen, Denmark found that patients previously treated for multiple myeloma receiving REVLIMID (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone experienced a significant survival gain regardless of the number of prior therapies they had received. The results showed that not only was the use of REVLIMID and dexamethasone associated with a...

Celgene International Sarl (Nasdaq:CELG) today announced that according to data from a pooled study presented at the 13th European Hematology Association (EHA) congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, multiple myeloma patients taking REVLIMID(R) (lenalidomide) plus dexamethasone significantly increased their survival rates. A lifetime simulation yielded an estimated mean survival of 5.6 life-years with REVLIMID in combination with dexamethasone (2.2 life-years with dexamethasone alone) for patients...

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Celgene Inc.'s cancer drug Revlimid improves the rate of survival in previously treated patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma by at least a year compared with those taking standard treatment, according to data released on Monday. Data from a late-stage or Phase III clinical trial presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta showed that patients who took Revlimid plus chemotherapy lived at least a year longer than...

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Celgene Inc. said on Sunday its cancer drug Thalomid improved survival by a significant amount in elderly patients with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta showed that giving Thalomid in combination with two standard drugs improved survival compared with either the standard therapy alone or standard therapy plus a stem cell transplant. The current standard first-line...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Treatment with thalidomide or its analog lenalidomide prolongs life in mice with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), scientists report. Lead investigator Dr. Mahmoud Kiaei told Reuters Health that small clinical trials are already underway in the US and in Germany "and we hope to set up a larger clinical trial in New York to examine the efficacy of these drugs in ALS patients." ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is an incurable progressive...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Celgene Corp. said on Monday that a pivotal-stage trial of its Thalomid drug was stopped early after the medicine was shown to dramatically limit the progress of the blood cancer multiple myeloma. The drug, also known as thalidomide, was first introduced in the 1950s and became notorious for causing birth defects. It is currently approved for treating a symptom of leprosy. The Phase 3 trial of 270 patients found that that it took an average of 75.7 weeks for...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Celgene Corp. said on Monday that a pivotal-stage trial of its Thalomid drug was stopped early after the medicine was shown to dramatically limit the progress of the blood cancer multiple myeloma. The drug, also known as thalidomide, was first introduced in the 1950s and became notorious for causing birth defects. It is currently approved for treating a symptom of leprosy. The Phase 3 trial of 270 patients found that that it took an average of 75.7 weeks for...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A clinical trial of Celgene Corp.'s experimental cancer drug, Revlimid, has been suspended because of concerns about blood clots, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The suspension comes as the company was awaiting notice from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next week on approval of the medicine, the newspaper said. It quoted the principal investigator in the study, S.V. Rajkumar, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic, as saying he could not comment...

By Susan Heavey BETHESDA, Maryland (Reuters) - Celgene Corp.'s Revlimid is effective in treating anemia in certain patients with potentially fatal blood disorders known as myelodysplastic syndromes and should be approved, a U.S. advisory panel said on Wednesday. The drug is a new version of Celgene's Thalomid or thalidomide, often remembered for tragic birth defects when used as a sedative in pregnant women but now finding new uses, such as for the blood cancer multiple myeloma. In a...