Multiple Myeloma Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a life – threatening disease. Treatments for all types of cancer are not available yet and researchers at cancer institutes are working day and night to develop new cancer drugs. Currently, the FDA has approved a new cancer treatment called ‘Velcade’ or bortezomib, used for treating multiple myeloma. The approval is based not on improved survival rate but the drug’s effectiveness in reducing visible cancer growth or worsening symptoms. Of all its other effects, velcade helps in reducing tumor size.

Marketed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge, velcade belongs to the new class of anti – cancer agents called ‘proteasoma inhibitors’. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of bone marrow and second most prevalent blood cancer disease, the first being non – Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Who Can Use Velcade For Treatment?

As mentioned by the FDA regulations, a multiple myeloma patient who had previously received myeloma treatment but relapsed and showed resistance to their last treatment should be given Velcade.

According to their research on Velcade usefulness for cancer patients, they tested 188 patients who showed relapse or resistance. Out of 188, 28% of the patients showed marked improvement after velcade medication and in another test concerning 54 patients, all of them displayed similar improvement ration.

Side Effects Of Velcade

As with every new cancer treatment medicine, their side effects cannot be ruled out! Here is the list of possible adverse effects:

-       fatigue

-       diarrhea

-       nausea

-       constipation

-       fever

-       decrease in RBC

-       numbness

-       headache

-       decreased appetite

-       Vomiting and other peripheral neuropathy conditions.

Based on possible side effects of this new cancer treatment medication, consider alternative cancer treatments, but first consult your physician, before making any decisions.