Multiple myeloma patients being treated with Velcade often experience peripheral neuropathy, which is nerve damage that causes pain, numb­ness, or tingling in the extremities.  Recent studies have identified two ways of reducing neuropathy and other side effects associated with Velcade, while maintaining similar efficacy: administering Velcade intravenously once weekly instead of twice weekly or administering Velcade subcutaneously instead of intravenously.

Velcade (bortezomib) is currently approved to be used intravenously for the treatment of multiple myeloma in the United States and …

A group of international researchers analyzed the outcomes of multiple myeloma patients after they failed to respond to therapy with novel agents, such as Velcade, Revlimid, and thalidomide.

The study authors stated that the results will help physicians and patients better understand patients’ prognoses and select appropriate clinical trials.

“The study provides an estimate of the expected outcome among patients with myeloma that has stopped responding to the newly available drugs,” said Dr. Shaji Kumar from the Mayo Clinic in …

A promising experimental method for treating ad­vanced leukemia may point the way to important new treat­ment options for multiple myeloma.

“It is very exciting,” said Dr. Leif Bergsagel, a myeloma specialist from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona who was not involved in the study investigating the leukemia treat­ment. “I think this ap­proach could and should be extended to multiple myeloma.”  He pointed out, however, that “It will be several years before myeloma patients will be treated this way.”

In two recently published research articles, scientists …

Results of a Phase 2 clin­i­cal trial show that elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and low-dose dexa­meth­a­sone is safe and ef­fec­tive in re­lapsed / refractory mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

“Elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and low-dose dexa­meth­a­sone has a very high re­sponse rate,” said Dr. Philippe Moreau from the Uni­ver­sity Hospital in Nantes, France, when he pre­sented the findings at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on Sunday.

“[The com­bi­na­tion] seems to be superior to Revlimid …

Results of a Phase 1 clinical trial suggest that the investigational drug LY2127399 in combination with Velcade is safe and effective enough to deserve further study as a potential treatment for multiple myeloma.

“We are very encouraged by these results and would like to move this forward to a randomized trial comparing LY2127399 and Velcade with Velcade alone,” said Dr. Noopur Raje, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute when she presented these findings at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the American Society …

Monday was the fourth day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2011) annual meeting in Chicago.  Although the meeting concluded yes­ter­day, Monday was the last day of the meeting that con­tained any myeloma-relevant ma­teri­al.

The morn­ing started with a session recapping highlights of the meeting from Sunday.  Dr. Ivan Borello from the Johns Hopkins Uni­ver­sity School of Medicine was invited to give a 15-minute pre­sen­ta­tion recapping the myeloma highlights (see Part 1 and Part 2 of …

Results of an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial indicate that the anti-cancer drug lorvotuzumab mertansine in combination with Revlimid-dexamethasone is active in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients.

“There is encouraging activity observed at all dose levels,” said Dr. Jesus Berdeja from the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, who presented these findings at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on Sunday.

In a summary talk about potential new myeloma treatments, Dr. Nikhil Munshi from …