FDA Approves Proteasome Inhibitor For Treating Multiple Myeloma
August 1, 2003
A new multiple myeloma treatment called Velcade is among the first in a new generation of drugs called proteasome inhibitors. Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer of plasma cells -- immune system cells in the bone marrow that produce antibodies. The body fights the cancer on its own using specific proteins, but it also produce proteasomes, enzymes that break those proteins down. Velcade, recently approved by the FDA, counters the action of proteasomes, allowing the cancer-fighting proteins to build up.
