Millennium identifies Velcade efficacy biomarkers

USA-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals has discovered biomarkers which may lead to identifying multiple myeloma patients likely to respond to Velcade (bortezomib). The drug is the US market-leading therapy for previously-treated multiple myeloma patients, with an unsurpassed median survival of 29.8 months as a single agent.

These findings add to the body of evidence that supports the role of Velcade in the treatment of a broad range of MM patients and highlight the applicability of genomics research. This research, in combination with similar ongoing studies, may ultimately lead to improved outcomes for patients. Researchers performed genomic analyses on tumor samples from MM patients in clinical trials of the drug.

The results showed that patients with an increased expression of genes in the NFk-B and adhesion molecule pathways may be more sensitive to Velcade. Additionally, these findings showed that the biomarkers did not predict sensitivity to dexamethasone therapy, indicating that the biomarkers may be specific to Millennium's drug.