Novel agents have a significant impact on survival of patients with multiple myeloma

Summary Background In addition to conventional chemotherapeutic regimens and autologous transplantation, novel agents are now part of the treatment armamentarium against multiple myeloma (MM). To evaluate the presumed benefit of novel agents, we performed an analysis of patients with MM at our institution before and after the availability of novel agents. Design and methods In all, 200 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed MM (male = 119; female = 81; median age: 61.5 years) treated at our institution between June 1993 and December 2008 were included in this retrospective analysis. Patient cohorts were defined according to date of diagnosis (before and after 01-Jan-2000, respectively), treatment received (chemotherapy only vs. therapy including novel agents), risk profile (International Staging System (ISS)-stage), and cytogenetic features. Primary focus of the analysis was overall survival (OS). Results Median OS for MM patients who received conventional chemotherapy was 45.2 months and for patients who received novel agents 74.6 months ( P