Results from three clinical trials involving the inves­ti­ga­tional drug filanesib were presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting earlier this month.

The trials evaluated the efficacy of filanesib (ARRY-520) alone and in com­bi­na­tion with other agents as potential treat­ments for re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.

Overall, the trial results presented at ASH con­firm existing impressions of filanesib as a promising potential myeloma ther­apy.

Results of a Phase 2 trial of filanesib with or …

Monday was the third day of this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).  The day was filled with oral presentation sessions from early in the morning until into the evening.

In the afternoon and early evening, there were six oral presentation sessions devoted solely to multiple myeloma and a number of other myeloma-related presentations scattered about the afternoon.  The topics of these presentations ranged from the biology of myeloma to treat­ment options for newly diag­nosed, re­lapsed and …

Spanish researchers recently developed a new model based on a technique called multiparameter flow cytometry that can identify newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients with disease profiles similar to those of patients with the myeloma precursor disease monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

The set of myeloma patients identified as having disease similar to monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) had better disease status at diagnosis and better long-term survival than other newly diagnosed myeloma patients, regardless of the depth of their …

The results of two recent European studies provide new insights into minimal residual disease detection and its potential value in the treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

The first study, carried out in Spain, used two different methods to detect mini­mal residual disease (MRD) in myeloma patients.  The study found that the two methods led to similar results, and that MRD levels may be a better predictor of patient prognosis than traditional measures of treat­ment response.

The second study was conducted by …

This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) came to an end yesterday in Chicago.

Monday was the busiest day with regard to myeloma-related research. The day started with an oral presentation session that in­cluded eight talks about im­por­tant new myeloma-related research. A poster session in the afternoon in­cluded several posters about myeloma-related research.

This article summarizes the most im­por­tant findings from Monday's oral pre­sen­ta­tion session. A later article will cover the findings from the after­noon …

This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which is being held in Chicago, began on Friday and goes through Tuesday.

Sunday started with a poster session in which im­por­tant new re­search findings were summarized on posters dis­played throughout a large conference hall.

The stud­ies pre­sented during the session were on a wide variety of myeloma-related topics, in­clud­ing new treat­ments being devel­oped for myeloma, cur­rently used regi­mens, smol­der­ing mul­ti­ple myeloma, and findings on initial ther­apy.

Some of the …

Results from a recent retrospective study conducted in Germany suggest that treatment with novel agents followed by an autologous stem cell transplant may be an effective and safe salvage therapy for relapsed mul­tiple myeloma patients who previously received a transplant.

The study investigators believe that this course of treatment could po­ten­tial­ly "serve as a bridge" to a late donor transplant in certain patients.

However, the researchers point out that many of the patients included in the analysis did not receive …