Results from a small Phase 2 study conducted throughout Japan sug­gest that a com­bi­na­tion of Velcade, doxorubicin, and intermediate-dose dexa­meth­a­sone is effective in patients with re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Most patients (89 per­cent) responded to treat­ment, with a third of them achieving a com­plete or near com­plete response.  In addi­tion, the medi­an pro­gres­sion-free survival was 12.1 months.

According to the Japanese researchers, the findings from this study are com­par­able to those from pre­vi­ous studies that examined the effective­ness of …

Fellow myeloma patients: When do you let new friends, casual acquaintances, or even strangers know that you have cancer?

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2005, I immediately sent out a long e-mail to all of my friends and family. Then I started a blog and told everyone to visit it for regular updates about my health. My cancer was in no way a secret.

Nearly eight years later, my cancer is still not a secret. It’s just …

Findings from a recent study conducted by a group of European re­searchers show that genetically diverse abnormal plasma cells, known as clones, are pres­ent in all stages of myeloma, from its precursor stages through to its symp­tom­at­ic stage.

These sets of abnormal plasma cells compete against one another, the re­searchers argue, and pro­mote disease progression through a Darwin­ian evolu­tion­ary model -- not by ac­cumu­la­tion of additional muta­tions over time, as was previously believed to be the case.

In addition, the …

For six weeks this summer, my wife and I are spend­ing three- to four-day, ex­tend­ed weekends on an idyllic lake 70 miles north of Manhattan.  We have rented a house that sits on a small lake (about three quarters of a mile long and a one quarter of a mile wide). 

When it rains, the lake over­flows the small dam that trans­formed what was a swampy pond into the lake.  The lake then becomes a very small source for …

French researchers recently determined that the chromosomal abnor­mal­i­ties t(4;14) and del(13) are less common in older newly diagnosed myeloma pa­tients than in younger patients.

In contrast, the del(17p) abnormality was found to occur with a similar frequency across myeloma patients of all ages.

The researchers also found that the t(4;14) and del(17p) abnormalities have the same prognostic value in older patients as in younger patients.

Specifically, older patients with t(4;14) and del(17p) had shorter pro­gres­sion-free and overall survival com­pared to …

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I was diag­nosed with mye­loma back in 2004, my work hours, which were already slim, were immedi­ately cut back. When it be­came clear I could no longer perform my usual and customary job du­ties, my employ­ment ceased entirely. I didn’t receive any unem­ploy­ment bene­fits after my termination.

Before anyone rushes to comment on my rights as a worker, let me add one ad­di­tional note: I was self-employed. At the time of my …

The U.S. pharmaceutical company Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) reported yester­day the dis­continuation of the com­pany’s Phase 3 study of Revlimid for chronic lympho­cytic leu­kemia.

Preliminary results from the study, which compared treatment with Rev­li­mid (lenalidomide) to treatment with chlorambucil (Leukeran), showed more deaths among patients be­ing treated with Revlimid than those be­ing treated with chlor­ambucil.

The study, known as the "ORIGIN" trial, included 421 previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) pa­tients at least 65 years of age.

The U.S. Food …