Background:

Pomalidomide, previously known as CC-4047 or actimid, is a potent immunomodulatory molecule that exhibits antineoplastic activity for the treatment of hematological malignancies, especially relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (MM). As a derivative of thalidomide, pomalidomide has a similar chemical structure as thalidomide except for the addition of two oxo groups in the phthaloyl ring and an amino group at the fourth position. Generally, as an immunomodulatory molecule, pomalidomide demonstrates antitumor activity through a mechanism of blocking the tumor microenvironment by modulation of tumor-supporting cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8 and VEGF), directly down-regulating key functions of tumor cells, and engaging support from non-immune host cells.

Reference

[1].AA Chanan-Khan, A Swaika, A Paulus, SK Kumar, JR Mikhael, SV Rajkumar, A Dispenzieri, and MQ Lacy. Pomalidomide: the new immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Blood Cancer Journal (2013) 3, el43
[2].Evangelos Terpos, Nikolaos Kanellias, Dimitrios Christoulas, Efstathios Kastritis, and Meletios A Dimopoulos. Pomalidomide: a novel drug to treat relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Onco Targets Ther 2013; 6: 531-538