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What is Empliciti (elotuzumab)? and how does Empliciti work?

Medically reviewed by Melisa Puckey, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 2, 2024.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

What type of drug is Empliciti?

What is Empliciti?


Empliciti (elotuzumab) is an anticancer drug given as an infusion, that is used to treat multiple myeloma in a combination medication treatment program.
Currently Empliciti can be used with a specific combination of medicines for two selected patient groups:

How does Empliciti work?

We have cells in our immune system called Natural Killer (NK) cells whose job it is to kill infected cells, any stressed cells that aren't functioning properly or cancer cells.
A simple way to think of how Empliciti works, is that Empliciti:

This results in more multiple myeloma cancer cells being destroyed by the Natural Killer cells.

Related questions

What type of drug is Empliciti?

Empliciti is a monoclonal antibody type of anticancer drug.

An antibody is part of the immune system that attaches to a protein (or antigen) like a key fits a lock. Once the antibody is attached to the antigen it is like there is a sign on it, labeling the protein as something that needs to be destroyed by the immune system.

Some cancer cells have antigens on the outside of the cell and monoclonal antibodies can be designed to target these antigens.


Bottom Line:

References

Empliciti Medication information: https://www.drugs.com/pro/empliciti.html

Elotuzumab Therapy for Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1505654

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