Bortezomib
Brand Names
Velcade® (There may be other brand names for this medication)
How is it Administered?
Your medicine will be given intravenously, which means it will be given through a tube placed in a vein, usually in your arm, wrist, hand or chest.
What is it Used For?
This drug is used to treat multiple myeloma (cancer of the blood plasma) and mantle cell lymphoma.
How Does Bortezomib Work?
Bortezomib is not a traditional chemotherapy medication; it is in a class of medications called proteasome inhibitors, a type of targeted therapy.
Traditional chemotherapy drugs identify cancer cells by their rapid rate of reproduction, and then attack those cells. Unfortunately, there are many cells in our bodies that normally reproduce rapidly and these cells are also affected by traditional chemotherapy drugs, resulting in many unpleasant side effects.
Bortezomib is designed to work differently. Instead of attacking rapidly reproducing cells, it targets enzymes within the cells, interferes with the cells’ ability to reproduce, and leads to the cells’ death.
