An observational study of once-weekly carfilzomib in patients with multiple myeloma in Japan (Weekly-CAR study).

Background: The ARROW study demonstrated that once-weekly carfilzomib and dexamethasone (wKd) therapy significantly prolonged progression-free survival compared with twice-weekly carfilzomib and dexamethasone therapy in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients. Aim: To describe the treatment patterns, effectiveness and safety of wKd therapy in real-world settings in Japan. Methods: We investigated data from the medical records of 126 Japanese patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Results: The overall response rate was 66.3%. The median progression-free survival was 9.5 months. The incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events of any grade and grade ≥3 were 45.8 and 20.8%, respectively. Conclusion: There were no new or unexpected safety signals in this study. This study demonstrated the effectiveness and safety profiles of wKd therapy in Japan.