Using Antibiotics in Myeloma Combos To Kill Myeloma Cells by Reducing Inflammation with Dr. Tomer Mark, MD, Weill Cornell Medical Center

Antibiotics can be used in combination with standard myeloma drugs to increase their myeloma-killing impact. A common antibiotic, clarithromycin (typically used for sinus infections) has been tested in myeloma and has found to help kill myeloma because it reduces inflammation, allowing the immune system to do its job to kill harmful cells. Dr. Tomer Mark, MD of the Weill Cornell Medical Center shares his use of Biaxin (clarithromycin) in a combination called "BIRD" - Biaxin, Revlimid and Dexamethasone. He notes that the use of the antibiotic with lenalidomide and dexamethasone can get equally good responses as VRD (Velcade-Rev-Dex) or CyborD (cyclophosphamide-bortezomib-dex). He likes the antibiotic combination option because it can spare patients some up-front chemo toxicity and allows doctors to reserve some active myeloma treatments for later, when patients relapse.  It is a common and inexpensive drug to add to the mix and Dr. Mark is now testing the BIRD combination with carfilzomib and in other combinations after seeing positive results from a previous study. Dr. Mark shares how this drug will continue to be tested with other new combinations and describes his upcoming clinical trials to further test this easy option. Clinical Trials Discussed in This Show Car-BIRD for Relapsed/Refractory Myeloma The Myeloma Crowd Radio Show With Dr. Tomer Mark