Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. said the phase 1/2 data of eltanexor in multiple myeloma — a bone marrow cancer that affects plasma cells — showed that the treatment was well-tolerated and demonstrated promising activity in treating the disease.
Results showed that patients who received eltanexor with dexamethasone on the first day had deeper and faster responses than those with delayed dexamethasone. "These phase 1/2 results show that eltanexor, both alone or in combination with dex, induces responses or disease control and is associated with prolonged survival," Robert Cornell of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center said in a news release.
The most common grade 1/2 side effects were nausea, fatigue, anemia and diarrhea. The most common grade 3/4 side effects were thrombocytopenia and neutropenia.
Based on the trial results, the company is expanding the study to include patients with advanced colorectal cancer, castration-resistant prostate cancer and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome — indications where selinexor and nuclear export protein XPO1 inhibition has shown clear activity, but where side effects such as fatigue and anorexia were problematic for patients due to the underlying malignancies.
