High Dose Chemotherapy Using BeEAM for Autologous Transplant in Multiple Myeloma

Myeloma patients, following up-front induction therapy, will receive an ASCT following a high-dose bendamustine-based preparative regimen (BeEAM). The primary endpoint of this trial will be the rate of CR at day 100 post-transplant. Experience from the literature, as well as results from our institution, suggests that following ASCT for the upfront treatment of myeloma, the rate of CR at day 100 post-transplant is approximately 45%. It is hoped that under this protocol, this rate will be at least 65%. Thus we statistically formalize this study by testing the null hypothesis that p, the CR rate is 0.65 or more versus the alternative hypothesis that p is less than 0.45. A sample size of 65 pts gives 90% power with an alpha=0.05, using the formula for a one sample binomial (two-sided) test of a proportion.