Adis Journals
Browse

Melphalan Flufenamide (Melflufen): First Approval

Download (504 kB)
online resource
posted on 2021-05-02, 23:05 authored by Sohita Dhillon

Declarations

Funding The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.


Authorship and Conflict of interest During the peer review process the manufacturer of the agent under review was offered an opportunity to comment on the article. Changes resulting from any comments received were made by the authors on the basis of scientific completeness and accuracy. Sohita Dhillon is a contracted employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. All authors contributed to the review and are responsible for the article content.


Ethics approval, Consent to participate, Consent to publish, Availability of data and material, Code availability Not applicable.


Additional information about this Adis Drug Review can be found here


Abstract

Melphalan flufenamide (melflufen, Pepaxto®) is a peptide conjugated alkylating drug developed by Oncopeptides for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) and amyloid light-chain amyloidosis. It is an ethyl ester of a lipophilic dipeptide consisting of melphalan and para-fluoro-L-phenylalanine. Due to its lipophilicity, melphalan flufenamide is rapidly transported across the cell membrane and almost immediately hydrolyzed by aminopeptidases in the cytoplasm to yield more hydrophilic alkylating molecules, such as melphalan and desethyl-melflufen. Like other nitrogen mustard drugs, melphalan flufenamide exerts antitumor activity through DNA crosslinking. In February 2021, melphalan flufenamide, in combination with dexamethasone, received its first approval in the USA for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory (r/r) MM who have received at least four prior lines of therapy and whose disease is refractory to at least one proteasome inhibitor (PI), one immunomodulatory agent, and one CD38-directed monoclonal antibody. A multinational clinical study of melphalan flufenamide in amyloid light-chain amyloidosis is underway across several countries, and preclinical studies for various haematological and solid cancers are underway. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of melphalan flufenamide leading to this first approval.


© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

History

Usage metrics

    Drugs

    Categories

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC