Thalidomide Shows Signs of Being Effective Against Bone Cancer

Thalidomide, the drug infamous for causing ghastly birth defects during the 1960s, appears to be effective against a highly lethal form of bone cancer, even in patients in advanced stages of the disease. A study of 84 patients with multiple myeloma found that all signs of the disease disappeared in 10% of those getting thalidomide, and most of the others improved somewhat.

Multiple myeloma, which kills about 11,000 people in the United States each year, is considered incurable with conventional chemotherapy. The disease usually strikes the elderly, and with traditional treatment, they generally survive 2 1/2 to 3 years. Dr. Bart Barlogie of the University of Arkansas Cancer Research Center and his colleagues report in today’s New England Journal of Medicine that the drug appears to work by blocking formation of blood vessels that provide nutrients to tumors.

*

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II