Palifermin, the first specific drug treatment for oral mucositis in bone marrow transplant

Even though the target of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is the tumor cell, normal rapidly dividing tissues are affected and injuries of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract are frequent. Oral mucositis (OM) is the most common complication following myeloablative therapy and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). Almost all patients receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment experience some degree of OM. In particular, about 40% of patients receiving standard chemotherapy, 75-90 % of bone marrow transplant patients treated with high-dose conditioning regimen and nearly all patients treated with radiotherapy for head and neck cancers develop OM.