A trial looking at treatment for myeloma that has come back after a transplant with your own blood stem cells or bone marrow (MMVAR)

This trial was looking at thalidomide and dexamethasone with or without bortezomib (Velcade) for myeloma that had come back. Everyone in this trial had already had a transplant with their own blood stem cells or bone marrow as treatment for their myeloma. This is known as an autologous transplant.

To have an autologous transplant, you have high dose chemotherapy followed by your own blood stem cells or bone marrow. But sometimes this doesn’t work and the myeloma comes back.

Doctors often use thalidomide and a steroid called dexamethasone to treat myeloma that has come back. Or they may use bortezomib. Bortezomib is a type of biological therapy called a proteasome inhibitor. The researchers want to find out if having all 3 drugs was better than having thalidomide and dexamethasone alone. The aims of this trial were to

• Find out if it was better to have bortezomib as well as dexamethasone and thalidomide for myeloma that had come back after an autologous transplant

• Learn more about the side effects of this new combination of treatment