Researchers from the United States and Spain recently found that lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients may benefit from early treatment with a certain kind of stem cell transplant.
Specifically, the patients benefited from donor stem cell transplants without T-cells, a type of white blood cell.
Over 60 percent of patients experienced survival times greater than five years, and the rate of graft-versus-host disease, a common transplant-related complication, was low.
According to the researchers, these findings support the use of transplantation without…
Preliminary results from a Phase 1 study show that the developmental drug ARRY-614 may be effective and safe for lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients who have failed other therapies.
Dr. Rami Komrokji of the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, presented these results at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting last month.
ARRY-614 is an oral drug that is being developed by Array BioPharma. It works by preventing the death of precursor blood cells, the cells…
Sequential treatment with Zolinza, idarubicin, and cytarabine is safe and highly effective in patients with acute myeloid leukemia and higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, according to results from a recent Phase 2 study.
The study authors also found that patients with mutations in the FLT-3 gene responded particularly well to the drug combination, yielding an overall response rate of 100 percent.
Dr. Guillermo Garcia-Manero of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston presented these findings at the 2011 American Society of Hematology…
Vidaza May Be More Cost Effective Than Dacogen – Results of a recent analysis indicate that Vidaza (azacitidine) may be more cost-effective than Dacogen (decitabine) for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients. The analysis makes use of U.S. health care treatment costs and assumptions about treatment outcomes based on previously published clinical trial results. The total of all health care costs for a patient treated for two years with Vidaza is estimated to be $150,322, compared to $166,212 for Dacogen. The analysis…