As recently as a decade ago, the life expectancy for individuals with multiple myeloma, using the best available treatment options, was just three to four years. But, nowadays, some people with the debilitating blood cancer can expect to live ten years or longer thanks in large part to bortezomib, a proteasome inhibitor that hit the US market in 2003. Despite radically changing the landscape for myeloma therapy, however, bortezomib-which is sold as Velcade by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Millennium Pharmaceuticals-still has some serious limitations. The drugs side effects can be severe, ranging from nerve damage and low blood counts to nausea and constipation.
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