AUSTRALIAN-LEUKEMIA-STUDY-GROUP-MYELOMA-II - A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF INTENSIVE COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY WITH OR WITHOUT INTERFERON IN PATIENTS WITH MYELOMA

The Australian Leukaemia Study Group has performed a randomized trial of interferon alpha-2A (Roferon-A) as a co-induction agent together wi th intensive combination chemotherapy and as maintenance following com pletion of 12 cycles of induction treatment. When used as a co-inducti on agent, interferon-alpha did not improve response rates, time-to-tre atment failure, or overall survival. Patients who had interferon toget her with intensive combination therapy (PCAB: prednisone 60 mg/m(2) da ys 1-5, cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2) day 1, BCNU 30 mg/m(2) day 1, dox orubicin 30 mg/m(2) day 1, repeated every 28 d for a total of 12 cycle s) had more leucocyte and granulocyte toxicity and received a lower do se intensive of cytotoxic drugs than those patients who received PCAB without interferon. There was a trend towards prolongation of plateau phase which did not reach significance, Interferon, however, did impro ve the survival of patients who achieved plateau; for those patients i nterferon was associated with a 33% decrease in the rate of death afte r adjusting for initial beta-2 microglobulin level.