Bevacizumab With or Without Thalidomide in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed progressing multiple myeloma

  * Stages I, II, or III
  * More than 25% increase in urine or plasma paraprotein levels
  * More than 5% malignant plasma cell involvement in bone marrow
* Smoldering myeloma is eligible provided there is evidence of progressive disease requiring therapy

  * At least 25% increase in M protein levels or Bence Jones excretion
  * Hemoglobin no greater than 10.5 g/dL
  * Frequent infections
  * Hypercalcemia
  * Rise in serum creatinine above normal on 2 separate occasions
* Nonsecretory multiple myeloma that is bidimensionally measurable by MRI or CT scan is eligible provided the disease site is new or has shown an increase in M protein levels or Bence Jones excretion is greater than 30% from baseline
* No prior or concurrent CNS involvement with primary or metastatic tumor
* No nonquantifiable monoclonal proteins or IgM peaks unless there is evidence of bidimensionally measurable disease by MRI or CT scan
* No history of hemorrhagic tumor or hemorrhagic metastasis

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

* 18 and over

Performance status:

* Karnofsky 70-100%

Life expectancy:

* At least 3 months

Hematopoietic:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Absolute neutrophil count ≥1,000/mm\^3
* Platelet count ≥ 50,000/mm\^3
* No hemorrhagic illness within the past 3 weeks

Hepatic:

* Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 mg/dL
* SGOT/SGPT≤ 2.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
* INR ≤ 1.5
* aPTT \< 1.5 times ULN

Renal:

* See Disease Characteristics
* Creatinine ≤ 2 mg/dL
* Creatinine clearance ≥ 40 mL/min
* Calcium ≤ 12 mg/dL
* No nephrotic syndrome

Cardiovascular:

* No active coronary artery disease
* No New York Heart Association class II-IV congestive heart failure
* No grade II or greater peripheral vascular disease (i.e, ischemic rest pain, non-healing ulcer, or tissue loss)
* No uncontrolled hypertension
* No history of deep venous thrombosis
* No vascular illness within the past 3 weeks
* No arterial thromboembolic event within the past 6 months, including any of the following:

  * Transient ischemic attack
  * Cerebrovascular accident
  * Unstable angina
  * Myocardial infarction

Pulmonary:

* No history of pulmonary embolus

Other:

* No other prior malignancy unless the patient has been in complete remission for at least 2 years
* No peripheral neuropathy or CNS abnormalities ≥ grade 2

  * Patients with prior exposure to thalidomide and assigned to arm I may have grade 2 peripheral or CNS abnormalities
* No seizure disorder
* No serious non-healing wound, ulcer, or bone fracture
* No trauma within the past 3 weeks
* No significant inflammatory illness within the past 3 weeks
* No known hypersensitivity to Chinese hamster ovary cell products
* No known hypersensitivity to other recombinant human or humanized antibodies and/or positive human antimurine antibodies/human antichimeric antibodies
* No other significant medical, psychological, or social problem that would preclude study participation
* Not pregnant or nursing
* Negative pregnancy test
* Fertile patients must use effective contraception for at least 2 weeks before and during study participation

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

* See Chemotherapy
* Prior nonmyeloablative transplantation allowed provided the following are true:

  * Patient is not receiving concurrent immunosuppressive therapy
  * Patient has no signs of graft-versus-host disease
* Concurrent epoetin alfa allowed if started at least 4 weeks prior to study entry

Chemotherapy:

* No more than 5 prior chemotherapy regimens

  * Thalidomide, steroids, and interferon are not considered part of prior regimens
  * Mobilization with chemotherapy followed by either single or tandem autologous transplantation is counted as 1 prior regimen
  * Mobilization with chemotherapy followed by autologous and subsequent nonmyeloablative HLA-matched sibling allogeneic transplantation is counted as 1 prior regimen
* At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy
* No concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

* See Chemotherapy
* At least 2 weeks since prior steroids
* No concurrent steroids

Radiotherapy:

* At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy
* No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery:

* At least 3 weeks since prior surgery, including biopsy of a visceral organ

Other:

* At least 10 days since prior anticoagulants, including aspirin
* At least 2 days since prior nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents
* Concurrent bisphosphonates allowed