ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00049673Updated Sep 13, 2023Results posted

Thalidomide and Prednisone After Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation Multiple Myeloma

A Phase 3 interventional study of prednisone and thalidomide in Multiple Myeloma and Plasma Cell Neoplasm, sponsored by NCIC Clinical Trials Group. Completed at 18 sites in Canada. Open to participants aged 16 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-09-13.

Sponsored by NCIC Clinical Trials Group · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
332
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
16 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

RATIONALE: Thalidomide may stop the growth of multiple myeloma by stopping blood flow to the tumor. It is not yet known whether combining thalidomide with prednisone and giving them after autologous stem cell transplantation may be effective in treating multiple myeloma.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying thalidomide and prednisone to see how well they work compared to observation in treating patients who have undergone stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma.

Read the detailed description

OBJECTIVES:

  • Compare overall survival of patients with multiple myeloma treated with thalidomide and prednisone as maintenance therapy vs observation alone after autologous stem cell transplantation.
  • Compare progression-free survival of patients treated with these regimens.
  • Compare quality of life of patients treated with these regimens.
  • Compare toxic effects of these regimens in these patients.
  • Compare the objective venous thromboembolism rate in symptomatic patients treated with these regimens.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, non-blinded, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to treatment center, age (under 60 vs 60 and over), and response to prior transplantation (complete vs incomplete). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

  • Arm I: Patients receive oral thalidomide daily and oral prednisone every other day for 4 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.
  • Arm II: Patients undergo observation.

For both arms, patients are assessed (including for quality of life) regularly throughout the treatment/observation period: at baseline, every 2 months for 6 months, every 3 months for up to 4 years, and then annually thereafter.

After the treatment/observation period, patients are followed annually..

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 324 patients will be accrued for this study within 3.5 years.

02

Conditions studied

  • Multiple Myeloma and Plasma Cell Neoplasm

Keywords

  • stage I multiple myeloma
  • stage II multiple myeloma
  • stage III multiple myeloma
03

In context

Multiple Myeloma

3,760 studies on the registry are indexed under Multiple Myeloma; 769 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 332 is above the median of 41 across 3,005 interventional studies indexed under Multiple Myeloma.

Browse Multiple Myeloma studies →

Lead sponsor

NCIC Clinical Trials Group is the lead sponsor of 116 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Of its 28 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 8 (29%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
16 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Eligibility criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • confirmed multiple myeloma as evidenced by one of the following:

    • of an osteolytic lesion or soft tissue tumor composed of plasma cells
    • Bone marrow aspirate and/or biopsy demonstrating at least 10% plasmacytosis
    • Bone marrow less than 10% plasma cells with at least 1 bony lesion and meets the M-protein criteria as below
  • Detectable serum M-component of IgG, IgA, IgD, or IgE at initial diagnosis OR
  • Urinary excretion of light chain (Bence Jones) protein at least 1.0 gm/24 hrs if only light chain disease (urine M-protein) was present at initial diagnosis
  • Previously treated with stem cell transplantation after high-dose melphalan (200 mg/m\^2) within the past 60-100 days

    • Received transplantation within 1 year of the beginning of initial chemotherapy for multiple myeloma
    • No evidence of disease progression

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

  • 16 and over

Performance status

  • 0-2

  • At least 6 months

Hematopoietic

  • No prior hereditary hypercoaguable disorder
  • Granulocyte count at least 1,000/mm\^3
  • count at least 75,000/mm\^3

Hepatic

  • no greater than 2 times (ULN)
  • and/or ALT no greater than 2 times ULN
  • Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2 times ULN

Renal

  • Creatinine no greater than 3 times ULN

Cardiovascular

  • No prior spontaneous deep vein thrombosis within the past 5 years

    • Catheter-associated thrombus allowed
  • No uncontrolled hypertension

Pulmonary

  • No prior pulmonary embolism within the past 5 years

Other

  • No other prior or concurrent except adequately treated squamous cell or basal cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix or any cancer treated more than 5 years prior to study entry and presumed cured
  • No prior gastric ulceration or bleeding within the past 5 years
  • No prior documented lupus anti-coagulant or anti-phospholipid antibody
  • Not pregnant or nursing
  • Negative pregnancy test
  • Fertile female patients must use 2 effective methods of for 1 month prior, during, and 1 month after study participation
  • Male patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for 1 month after study participation
  • No avascular necrosis of the hips or shoulders
  • No grade 2 or greater peripheral neuropathy causing symptomatic dysfunction (vincristine-induced sensory symptoms allowed)
  • No diabetes with end-organ damage defined as:

    • Documented diabetic neuropathy
    • Retinal vascular proliferation requiring treatment
    • Cardiovascular disease requiring active therapy
  • Willing to complete quality of life questionnaires
  • Employment does not prohibit the use of sedatives
  • No other major medical illness or condition that would preclude study participation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

  • See Disease Characteristics
  • No prior double autologous or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
  • No prior thalidomide

Chemotherapy

  • See Disease Characteristics

Endocrine therapy

  • Not specified

Radiotherapy

  • Not specified

Surgery

  • Not specified

Other

  • No other concurrent anti-cancer therapy
  • No other concurrent therapy
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(12)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Histologically or cytologically confirmed

The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).

Your pathology report is the document that shows this.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Allogeneic and autologous transplant

Stem cell (bone marrow) transplants. Allogeneic uses cells from a donor; autologous uses your own cells, collected earlier and given back.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Life expectancy

The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

ULN (upper limit of normal)

The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.

“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
332 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Arm I

    Patients receive oral thalidomide daily and oral prednisone every other day for 4 years in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

    Drug: prednisone · Drug: thalidomide

  • No intervention
    Arm II

    Patients undergo observation.

Interventions

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Overall Survival

    Number of patients died from any cause during the study.

    Time frame: 9 years

Secondary outcomes

  1. Disease Progression-free Survival

    Number of patients with disease progression or death

    Time frame: 9 years

07

Results

Posted Oct 5, 2020

Participant flow

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestonePrednisoneObservation
Started166166
Completed165163
Not completed13
Withdrew: No receive treatment/lost to follow-up13

Outcome measures

PrimaryOverall Survival

Number of patients died from any cause during the study.

Time frame:
9 years
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Overall Survival
ParticipantsPrednisoneObservation
Death5061
Alive116105
Statistical analysis
  • Prednisone vs Observation · Log Rank · p = 0.18 · Hazard ratio (hr): 0.77 · 95% CI 0.53 to 1.14
SecondaryDisease Progression-free Survival

Number of patients with disease progression or death

Time frame:
9 years
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Disease Progression-free Survival
ParticipantsPrednisoneObservation
Disease progression100127
Without progression6639
Statistical analysis
  • Prednisone vs Observation · Log Rank · p = 0.0001 · Hazard ratio (hr): 0.56 · 95% CI 0.43 to 0.73

Adverse events

Collected over 9 years. Non-serious events are listed at a 5% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Prednisone50/165 (30.3%)5/165 (3%)165/165 (100%)
Observation61/163 (37.4%)2/163 (1.2%)158/163 (96.9%)
Most frequent serious events
Most frequent serious events
EventPrednisoneObservation
OtherImmune system disorders1/1651/163
Renal failureRenal and urinary disorders0/1651/163
Sinus bradycardiaCardiac disorders1/1650/163
ColitisGastrointestinal disorders1/1650/163
SyncopeNervous system disorders1/1650/163
PneumonitisRespiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders1/1650/163
Most frequent other events
Showing 10 of 59
Most frequent other events
EventPrednisoneObservation
Neuropathy-sensoryNervous system disorders147/16571/163
Bone painMusculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders119/165121/163
FatigueGeneral disorders120/16595/163
Infection w/o neutropenInfections and infestations113/16588/163
ConstipationGastrointestinal disorders97/16532/163
MyalgiaMusculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders74/16551/163
EdemaCardiac disorders72/16529/163
DizzinessNervous system disorders70/16515/163
InsomniaPsychiatric disorders69/16544/163
DyspneaRespiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders69/16533/163

Baseline characteristics

Age, Customized
Age, Customized(Participants)PrednisoneObservationTotal
Age < 60102103205
Age > or = 606463127
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)PrednisoneObservationTotal
Female5856114
Male108110218
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)PrednisoneObservationTotal
Canada162162324
United States448
08

Study locations

18 sites
  • Tom Baker Cancer Centre
    Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N2, Canada
  • Cross Cancer Institute
    Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1Z2, Canada
  • BCCA - Vancouver Cancer Centre
    Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 4E6, Canada
  • CancerCare Manitoba
    Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0V9, Canada
  • The Moncton Hospital
    Moncton, New Brunswick E1C 6Z8, Canada
  • Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation
    Saint John, New Brunswick E2L 4L2, Canada
  • Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Centre
    St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador AIB 3V6, Canada
  • QEII Health Sciences Center
    Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1V7, Canada
  • Juravinski Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences
    Hamilton, Ontario L8V 5C2, Canada
  • Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario at Kingston
    Kingston, Ontario K7L 5P9, Canada
  • London Regional Cancer Program
    London, Ontario N6A 4L6, Canada
  • Odette Cancer Centre
    Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5, Canada
  • Univ. Health Network-Princess Margaret Hospital
    Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9, Canada
  • Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont
    Montreal, Quebec H1T 2M4, Canada
  • McGill University - Dept. Oncology
    Montreal, Quebec H2W 1S6, Canada
  • CHA-Hopital Du St-Sacrement
    Quebec City, Quebec G1S 4L8, Canada
  • Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke
    Sherbrooke, Quebec J1H 5N4, Canada
  • Saskatoon Cancer Centre
    Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 4H4, Canada
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Stewart AK, Trudel S, Bahlis NJ, White D, Sabry W, Belch A, Reiman T, Roy J, Shustik C, Kovacs MJ, Rubinger M, Cantin G, Song K, Tompkins KA, Marcellus DC, Lacy MQ, Sussman J, Reece D, Brundage M, Harnett EL, Shepherd L, Chapman JA, Meyer RM. A randomized phase 3 trial of thalidomide and prednisone as maintenance therapy after ASCT in patients with MM with a quality-of-life assessment: the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinicals Trials Group Myeloma 10 Trial. Blood. 2013 Feb 28;121(9):1517-23. doi: 10.1182/blood-2012-09-451872. Epub 2013 Jan 7. PubMed 23297129 ↗
  • Kovacs MJ, Davies GA, Chapman JA, Bahlis N, Voralia M, Roy J, Kouroukis CT, Chen C, Belch A, Reece D, Zhu L, Meyer RM, Shepherd L, Stewart KA. Thalidomide-prednisone maintenance following autologous stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma: effect on thrombin generation and procoagulant markers in NCIC CTG MY.10. Br J Haematol. 2015 Feb;168(4):511-7. doi: 10.1111/bjh.13176. Epub 2014 Oct 10. PubMed 25302852 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

10

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 13, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00049673
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 27, 2003
Start date
Oct 15, 2002
Primary completion
Oct 19, 2011
Completion
Sep 19, 2013
Results posted
Oct 5, 2020
Last update
Sep 13, 2023

Study contacts

A. Keith Stewart, MD
study chair · Mayo Clinic
Martha Q. Lacy, MD
study chair · Mayo Clinic

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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Studies of the drugs tested here: Prednisone · Thalidomide

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