The drug was never marketed in the United States or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But researchers recognized the drug's properties might have cancer-fighting potential. This possibility has driven promising studies into thalidomide's role in fighting blood disorders, such as multiple myeloma, a deadly cancer for which there is no cure. Mayo Clinic Proceedings ' July issue offers four studies that have probed thalidomide's promising future after its tragic past.
"The most common indication for thalidomide use today is multiple myeloma and related plasma cell disorders," says S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D., a hematologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, in a commentary article in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings . "Thalidomide represents a new era in therapy for this incurable and fatal malignancy."
But, says Dr. Rajkumar, one of the top researchers into thalidomide's role in multiple myeloma, "Clinical trials eventually will determine whether thalidomide will be used as an anticancer agent in the long term or will be pushed into retirement by one or more safer analogues."
The July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings includes studies and editorials regarding thalidomide and myeloma:
A peer-review journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings publishes original articles and reviews dealing with clinical and laboratory medicine, clinical research, basic science research and clinical epidemiology. Mayo Clinic Proceedings is published monthly by Mayo Foundation for Education and Research as part of its commitment to the medical education of physicians. The journal has been published for more than 75 years and has a circulation of 130,000 nationally and internationally. Copies of the articles will be available online after the embargo lifts at www.mayo.edu/proceedings .
Mayo Clinic Proceedings