Multiple Myeloma Drug Approved in Europe

An oral medication for the treatment of relapsed myeloma, a rare form of blood cancer, has been approved by the European Commission.

The drug, called pomalidomide, directly attacks cancer cells as well as stimulating the body's immune system to combat the cancer. Clinical trials of the drug found that it increased survival rates when measured next to a comparison regimen.

Although myeloma is a more rare strain of cancer, contributing to only 1% of cancer diagnoses around the world, there is currently no cure for the disease.

Chairman and co-founder of the International Myeloma Foundation Brian G.M. Durie said: "It is vital that we keep delivering new treatment options to myeloma patients because remissions are not a cure and previous treatments often stop working."

The last treatment for myeloma to be approved by the European Commission was Revlimid, capsules of lenalidomide from the company Celgene, which was released in 2007.