As I approach the end of my induction therapy and the clinical trial I've been on, I find myself reflecting on the past two years since I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

One of the consequences of the diagnosis that I've come to recognize – and which I most likely will have to accept even more in the future – is how humbling dealing with cancer can be.

Sure, there are the little things, like figuring out how to manage a 24-hour …

Results from a Phase 1/2 study show that dinaciclib has anti-myeloma activity in relapsed multiple myeloma patients.

“The current study shows encouraging potential for the single-agent [use of dinaciclib] in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma,” said Dr. Shaji Kumar from the Mayo Clinic, who presented the results at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting last week. He added that the treatment was also “well-tolerated with toxicity that was manageable.”

However, Dr. Kumar explained that further studies are needed to …

Results from three Chinese clinical trials indicate that the investigational drug circularly permuted TRAIL may be effective alone or in combination with thalidomide in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.

However, further testing of the drug is necessary to determine its optimal dose.

Dr. Wenming Chen from the Chaoyang Hospital of Capital Medical University in Beijing presented the findings from the three studies last week at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in Atlanta.

Circularly Permuted TRAIL (CPT) …

ARRY-520 is one of several potential new anti-myeloma agents that was highlighted at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting earlier this week.

Initial results from two clinical trials show promise for ARRY-520 (filanesib), alone or in com­bi­na­tion with other myeloma drugs, as a thera­peutic option for heavily pretreated multiple myeloma patients.

“ARRY-520 shows promising activity in com­bi­na­tion with dexa­meth­a­sone in heavily pretreated myeloma patients,” said Dr. Jatin Shah, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and …

This month, I’m writing about a topic that is close to my heart: volunteering.

I started volunteering at the local playschool when my children were pre-schoolers and continued on all through their schooling. 

I learned a lot about ‘not for profit’ organizations through the years as I got involved with other groups.  Back in the ‘90s, we were still using ‘land line’ phones mostly, and being a ‘volunteer coordinator’ involved doing a lot of phoning and leaving a lot of …

Tuesday was the final day of this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, which took place in Atlanta.  The meeting concluded in the morning with a series of oral presentation sessions held simultaneously.

Three of the morning sessions focused on the biology of multiple myeloma as well as preclinical and clinical studies of treat­ment options for multiple myeloma patients.

This update will summarize the research presented during the session that focused on myeloma treat­ment options.  In addi­tion, it will …

Monday was the third and next-to-last day of the 2012 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.

It also was the busiest day of the meeting in regard to myeloma-related research.

The day ended with a poster session in the evening that featured over 1000 posters displayed throughout a large conference hall.  More than a hundred of the posters reported on the results of myeloma-related research.

Compared to the research summarized during oral presentations, the findings in poster summaries generally …