The results of a recent Phase 2 clinical trial comparing four Velcade-based combination therapies in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients show that a four-drug combination containing Velcade, Revlimid, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone led to similarly high response rates as the three-drug regimens, but resulted in a higher rate of side effects.

“We were hoping to see more activity at the same level of toxicity as the three-drug combination, but the result was similar efficacy at higher toxicity,” said Dr. Shaji Kumar …

Results of a small French study support previous findings that Revlimid in combination with dexamethasone is effective in elderly patients with relapsed multiple myeloma.

Importantly, the researchers found that almost a third of responding patients could remain on therapy following dose adjustments, which, according to the researchers, highlights “the need for a personalized therapeutic approach according to patient age and vulnerability.” 

Revlimid (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone (Decadron) is a standard therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.  Patients …

According to a recent Swedish study, a family history of blood clots has a greater impact on the risk of developing blood clots in multiple myeloma patients than in the general population.

“There are probably synergistic effects; i.e., if you have a family history [of blood clots] and multiple myeloma, the risk is more then the sum of the individual risks,” explained Dr. Sigurdur Kristinsson of the Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden and lead investigator of the study.

Based on …

My dog, Kodi, died suddenly the other day.  He was 15 years old.

I know, you’re asking, what does that have to do with multiple myeloma?

Let me try to explain.

When I was diagnosed in 2006, and by the time I ended up at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, I was in really bad shape.  Or so they tell me.  So much so, that I’m told that I’m fortunate to be alive today.

When I found myself unexpectedly admitted to …

Results of a small Phase 2 study show that newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients achieve similar response rates with alternating weeks of Revlimid and thalidomide in combination with dexamethasone as patients receiving Revlimid with dexamethasone or thalidomide with dexamethasone.

The study investigators point out that the alternating regimen was well tolerated even though Revlimid was administered at a higher than usual dose of 50 mg per day. However, the regimen was not, as they had hoped, more effective than either …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a warning to the prescribing information for Revlimid stating that patients being treated with the drug have an increased risk of developing a second cancer.

The warning has been added in two parts of the prescribing information.

In the upfront ‘Warnings and Precautions’ section, text has been included stating that “Higher incidences of SPM [second primary malignancies] were observed in controlled trials of patients with multiple myeloma receiving Revlimid.”

Later in the document, …

As cancer patients, how many times have we heard that our previous concept of normal is gone and we need to adjust to a "new normal"?

One of the first things my first doctor told me was that I would need to accept a new normal.

The health section of my local newspaper has a column each weekend written by a breast cancer survivor, and her article the week after I was diagnosed was about accepting the new normal.

I've …