Cancer drug Revlimid may be linked to second cancers, Health Canada warns
Posted May 4, 2012 06:54:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – The maker of a drug used to treat people with anemia as well as a form of cancer is warning that new cancers have been reported in a small number of people who have taken the drug.
Health Canada and the manufacturer, Celgene Inc., have worked together to update the label information for Revlimid to make note of the concern.
The drug is used for the treatment of a condition called deletion 5q myelodysplastic syndrome, which requires blood transfusions for anemia, a low red blood cell count.
Revlimid is also authorized for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have already had another treatment; multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells.
The company said second cancers such as skin cancers or other invasive solid tumours have been reported in a small number of patients with multiple myeloma while or after they were taking Revlimid.
They said patients taking the drug should talk with their health-care providers if they are concerned about their own increased risk of having other cancers.
