Introduction: Thalidomide is used for the treatment of multiple cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft versus host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of leprosy. While it has been used in the multiple HIV-associated complications, such application is associated with increased levels of the virus.
What is Thalidomide?
Thalidomide is a drug used as a first-line treatment in patients with multiple myeloma along with dexamethasone or together with melphalan and prednisone in the treatment of acute episodes of erythema nodosum leprosum and for maintenance therapy.
The bacterium that is responsible for causing tuberculosis (TB) is linked to leprosy. The drug thalidomide 100mg/50mg may be effective in some cases where standard tuberculosis drugs and corticosteroids can not resolve the severe inflammation in the brain.
Thalidomide is also used as a second-line treatment option for managing graft versus host disease and aphthous stomatitis in children and has been prescribed for certain other conditions in children, including actinic prurigo and epidermolysis bullosa; the proof for these applications not promising. This agent is recommended only as a third-line treatment option in graft-versus-host-disease in adults due to the lack of efficacy and adverse reactions seen in the clinical trials.
How to Take Thalidomide?
The recommended dose of thalidomide is usually administered with water once daily at bedtime and at least one hour following an evening meal. If you are taking thalidomide for the treatment of ENL, your healthcare practitioner may prescribe you to take it more than once daily, at least one hour following meals. Thalidomide should be administered at around the same time(s) every day.
Price & Storage: The thalidomide price in India is quite reasonable and may vary depending on the pharmaceutical wholesaler/pharmacy and of course the brand (either generic or innovator) you choose to buy. Store thalidomide at room temperature, away from the heat as well as moisture. Keep this medication in its original container, out of the reach of children/pets.
In case you have unused oral chemotherapy pills, return them to the pharmacy where the prescription was filled. It is not recommended to flush your pills down the toilet, dump in the sink, or throw away in the trash.
Research: Research approaches have been focused on specifying how thalidomide causes birth defects and its certain other activities in the human body, efforts to form safer analogs, and efforts to evaluate further applications for thalidomide.
Thalidomide analogs: The exploration of the antiangiogenic as well as immunomodulatory activities of thalidomide has led to the study and creation of thalidomide analogs. Celgene has sponsored several clinical trials with analogues to thalidomide, such as lenalidomide, that are quite useful and have fewer adverse reactions, except for greater myelosuppression.
In the year of 2005, Celgene received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for lenalidomide as the first commercially useful derivative. lenalidomide is available only in a restricted distribution setting in order to avoid its application during pregnancy. Further other assessments are being conducted to bring out the safer compounds with effective qualities. Another, a bit more comparatively potent analog, pomalidomide, is now approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Additionally, in the month of March, 2014, the apremilast was approved by the FDA. These thalidomide analogs can be considered in the treatment of different diseases, or considered in a regimen to fight two conditions.
Concern turned to pomalidomide, a kind of derivative of the drug thalidomide marketed by Celgene. It is an absolutely active anti angiogenic compound and also acts as an immunomodulator. In the month of February 2013, pomalidomide was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment option for the relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. In the month of August, 2013, it received the identical approval from the European Commission, and is expected to be marketed in Europe under the brand name Imnovid.
Clinical Research: There is no conclusive evidence that thalidomide or lenalidomide is useful to bring about or maintain remission in Crohn's disease.
Thalidomide was studied in a Phase-II trial for the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer most commonly observed in the immunocompromised, that is caused by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).
Note: The piece of information provided about "What are the medical uses of Thalidomide" in this article is just for informational purposes and is not served as a substitute for the medical treatment, consultation, diagnosis, of a qualified healthcare professional.
