Science Highlights
Published on September 01, 2026
Evomela-Based Conditioning for ASCT
by Blood Advances
Bashir Q, Thall PF, Kawedia J, et al. Phase I/II Trial of Evomela for Autologous Transplant in Myeloma: Schedule Optimization and Matched Comparison With MEL200. Blood Advances. 2026; (doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2026020293).
Phase I/II clinical evidence suggests Evomela may be a viable conditioning agent for multiple myeloma (MM) patients preparing for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The current standard is melphalan 200 mg/m2 (MEL200), but higher doses are associated with toxicity. Evomela is a type of melphalan but, owing to the absence of propylene-glycol in its formulation, it may permit dose escalation while maintaining tolerability. To identify an ideal dosing and infusion schedule, a prospective study randomly assigned 60 newly diagnosed MM patients to short Evomela infusions lasting 30-60 minutes or prolonged administration over 8-9 hours at doses of either 200 or 225 mg/m2. In propensity-matched comparisons, Evomela was associated with longer progression-free survival than MEL200 and also improved minimal residual disease-negative complete response rates at 90 days. None of the participants experienced non-hematologic toxicities of grade 4 or higher or suffered day-100 non-relapse mortality.
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