New treatment strategies for elderly myeloma patients

In the treatment of elderly patients, the new paradigm is the combination of the old drug melphalan with the new drugs thalidomide, lenalidomide or bortezomib. In newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients, the combination melphalan, prednisone and thalidomide (MPT) induces a fast tumor response with a high response rate, but evidence that this translate into improved outcome is limited. This multicenter trial compared the efficacy and the toxicity of oral MPT with oral melphalan and prednisone (MP) in previously untreated patients.