Table 1.

Characteristics of the included trials.

Trial	Author and year	Country	Number	Regimens	Follow-up (month)	Randomization	Blind	Allocation concealment	Withdrawal and dropout	ITT	Jadad score
VISTA  NCT00111319	San Miguel et al. 2008, 2010, 2013 [10–12]	Europe, America, Asia	682	E: VMP ∗ 9 cyc C: MP ∗ 9 cyc	60	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
IFM2005-01  NCT00200681	Harousseau et al. 2010 [13]	France, Belgium, Switzerland	482	E: VAD ∗ 4 cyc ± DCEP + ASCT C: BD ∗ 4 cyc ± DCEP + ASCT	32.2	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
MM-BO2005  NCT01134484	Cavo et al. 2010, 2012 [14, 15]	Italy	474	E: VTD ∗ 3 cyc + ASCT + VTD ∗ 3 cyc C: TD ∗ 3 cyc + ASCT + TD ∗ 3 cyc	36	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	4
PETHEMA/GEM  NCT00461747	Rosiñol et al. 2012 [16]	Spain	257	E: VTD ∗ 6 cyc + ASCT + T C: TD ∗ 6 cyc + ASCT + T	56.2	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
HOVON-65/GMMG-HD4  ISRCTN:64455289	Sonneveld et al. 2012 [17]	Germany, Netherlands, Belgium	827	E: PAD ∗ 3 cyc + ASCT + P C: VAD ∗ 3 cyc + ASCT + T	41	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	3
THAL-MM-003  NCT00057564	Rajkumar et al. 2008 [18]	Australia, Spain, America	570	E: TD C: placebo + D (until progression)	22.6	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	5
IFM01/01  NCT00644306	Hulin et al. 2009 [19]	Belgium	229	E: MPT ∗ 12 cyc C:   MP ∗ 12 cyc	47.5	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
HOVON49  ISRCTN:90692740	Wijermans et al. 2010 [20]	Netherlands	333	E: MPT ∗ 8 cyc C: MP ∗ 8 cyc	48	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
GISMM2001-A  NCT00232934	Palumbo et al. 2006, 2008 [21, 22]	Italy	255	E: MP ∗ 6 cyc + T C: MP ∗ 6 cyc	38.4	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	5
IFM99-06  NCT00367185	Facon et al. 2007 [23]	France, Belgium, Switzerland	321	E: MPT ∗ 12 cyc C: MP ∗ 12 cyc	51.5	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
NMSG#12 NCT00218855	Waage et al. 2010 [24]	Norway, Sweden, Denmark	357	E:  MPT  C:  MP  (until plateau phase)	42	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	5
UARK98-026  NCT00083551	Barlogie et al. 2006, 2008 [25, 26]	America	668	E: total therapy 2 + T C: total therapy 2	96	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
HOVON-5-/GMMG-HD3  ISRCTN:06413384	Lokhorst et al. 2008, 2010 [27, 28]	Netherlands, Germany, Belgium	556	E: VAD C: TAD	52	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
TMSG-2005-001  NCT00934154	Beksac et al. 2011 [29]	Turkey	115	E: MPT ∗ 8 cyc C: MP ∗ 8 cyc	23	Yes	No	Unclear	No	Yes	2
MM03  NCT01274403	Sacchi et al. 2011 [30]	Italy	118	E: MPT ∗ 6–12 cyc C: MP ∗ 6–12 cyc	30	Yes	No	Unclear	Yes	Yes	3
SO232  NCT00064038	Zonder et al. 2010 [31]	America	192	E: LEX + DEX C: placebo + DEX (until progression)	47.2	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	5
MM-015 NCT00405756	Palumbo et al. 2012 [32]	Europe, Australia, Israel	306	E: MPR ∗ 9 cyc + R C: (placebo + MP) ∗ 9 cyc	30	Yes	Yes	Unclear	Yes	Yes	5

E: experiment arm; C: control arm; cyc: cycles; VMP: bortezomib, melphalan; MP: melphalan, prednisolone; VAD: vincristine, adriamycin, and dexamethasone; prednisolone; DCEP: dexamethasone, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, and cisplatin; BD: bortezomib, dexamethasone; VTD: bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone; TD: thalidomide, dexamethasone; PAD: bortezomib, adriamycin, and dexamethasone; MPT: melphalan, prednisolone, and thalidomide; R: lenalidomide.