A new study by U.S. researchers provides useful insights into the out­comes newly diag­nosed multiple myeloma patients can ex­pec­t from a common sequence of initial treat­ments.

Drawing on data for more than 240 patients treated between 2010 and 2017, the authors of the new study in­ves­ti­gate treat­ment responses and survival out­comes for newly diag­nosed myeloma patients who under­went initial treat­ment with Revlimid (lena­lido­mide), Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib), and dexa­meth­a­sone, followed soon thereafter with an au­tol­o­gous (own) stem cell trans­plant.

More than two …

Earlier this month, The Myeloma Beacon published a news article sum­marizing results of a clin­i­cal trial testing the com­bi­na­tion of nelfinavir, Velcade, and dexa­meth­a­sone as a treat­ment for re­lapsed multiple myeloma.

Nelfinavir (Viracept) is an orally admin­istered drug that was approved in the 1990s for the treat­ment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syn­drome (AIDS). Nel­fin­avir has not pre­vi­ously been used for the treat­ment of …

The Myeloma Beacon yesterday published a news article summarizing results of a study investigating testos­terone levels in people recently diag­nosed with multiple myeloma. The study, which was conducted at Ohio State University, found that almost three quarters of recently diag­nosed myeloma patients have testos­terone levels that are low for their gender and age.

To understand more about the study and its implications for people with multiple …

The U.S. Food and Drug Admin­istra­tion (FDA) has approved the addi­tion of a once-weekly dosing regi­men to the official pre­scrib­ing in­­for­ma­tion for Kyprolis.

In addi­tion, the FDA approved revisions in the pre­scrib­ing in­­for­ma­tion related to two safety issues: the risk of heart-related side effects due to Kyprolis, and the risk of birth defects or miscarriage in women taking or exposed to Kyprolis during preg­nancy.

The once-weekly dosing of Kyprolis is approved for use in com­bi­na­tion with dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron) in multiple …

Once-weekly high-dose Kyprolis led to higher response rates and longer remissions in re­lapsed / refractory myeloma patients than twice-weekly, lower-dose Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), interim results of the Phase 3 "ARROW" clinical trial show.

Dr. Maria-Victoria Mateos presented the trial results earlier this month at the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, and also last weekend at the 2018 congress of the European Hematology Association, held in Stockholm. In addi­tion, the trial results were recently published in …

Janssen Biotech, the Johnson & Johnson sub­sid­i­ary that mar­kets the myeloma ther­apy Darzalex globally, has decided to halt two clin­i­cal trials testing the drug in com­bi­na­tion with other cancer treat­ments.

One of the Darzalex trials involves patients with pre­vi­ously treated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, while the other trial involves patients with re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Genmab, the Danish com­pany that initially devel­oped Darzalex (dara­tu­mu­mab) before licensing it to Janssen, announced news of the trial can­cel­la­tions this past Saturday. …

Hello again, myeloma world.

Today's review of myeloma-related research and news covers a particu­larly wide range of topics.

We start our review with a quick look at a new study related to Pomalyst and its use in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients. (The Beacon published a separate article about this study earlier today.)

Next, we report on changes the U.S. Food and Drug Admin­istra­tion has made in the procedures for “com­passion­ate use” access to unapproved drug treat­ments, including potential …