Positive results for myeloma study

Myeloma study approved for phase II after successful phase I.

A clinical trial carried out to test a new drug for patients with multiple myeloma has come back with positive results, with almost a quarter (24 per cent) of all patients reporting a stable disease for at least two months.

BioVent International, a US-based pharmaceutical company, conducted the tests of a medicine called BI-505 with the aim of establishing the optimum dose for treatment, and have indicated they were successful in this aim.

It is thought the dosage will prove crucial in further development of the drug as the company moves to its second phase of clinical trials, which has already been approved by health authorities.

"I am very encouraged by the safety profile of BI-505 and by the fact that in this heavily pretreated population, we were noticing patients with stable disease for quite some time," said the coordinating investigator of the BI-505 study Guido Trico.