Flavopiridol in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Inclusion Criteria:

Diagnosis of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) requiring treatment

Durie-Salmon stage I or greater at diagnosis

Patients with non-secretory or oligo-secretory MM (defined as maximum urinary M-spike less than 200 mg/24 hours and a maximum serum M-spike less than 0.5 g/dL during entire disease course) must have at least 30% bone marrow plasma cells
Patients with secretory MM must have measurable disease defined as serum monoclonal protein of at least 1 g/dL or urinary M-spike of at least 200 mg/24 hours

Must have received at least 1, but no more than 5 prior therapy regimens

Patients who have had 4 or 5 regimens are allowed provided corticosteroids and/or thalidomide are part of the regimens
No more than 5 prior chemotherapy regimens (as long as 2 contained dexamethasone or thalidomide)
Prior autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation is considered 1 prior regimen
Performance status - ECOG 0-2
Performance status - ECOG 0-3 if secondary to neuropathy or acute bone event (e.g., vertebral compression or rib fracture)
Absolute neutrophil count at least 750/mm^3
Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2.5 times ULN
AST no greater than 2.5 times ULN
Creatinine no greater than 3 mg/dL
No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
Peripheral neuropathy secondary to prior drug therapy or myeloma-associated neuropathy allowed
No other uncontrolled serious medical condition
No uncontrolled infection
No other active malignancy
Not pregnant or nursing
Negative pregnancy test
Fertile patients must use effective contraception
See Disease Characteristics
No prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation
At least 10 days since prior thalidomide
No concurrent biologic therapy
See Disease Characteristics
At least 2 weeks since prior myelosuppressive chemotherapy
No other concurrent chemotherapy
See Disease Characteristics

No concurrent corticosteroids (including as antiemetics) except chronic corticosteroids for disorders other than myeloma (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis or adrenal insufficiency)

Maximum dose allowed for prednisone is no more than 10 mg/day or hydrocortisone no more than 40 mg/day
At least 10 days since prior bortezomib or tipifarnib
Concurrent bisphosphonates allowed if on stable dose before study entry