The year 2011 was filled with important multiple myeloma-related news.  Throughout the year, myeloma experts made discoveries that have helped physicians better understand who is at risk of developing myeloma, improve treatment of multiple myeloma, better predict the survival of myeloma patients, and much more.

As a service to its readers, The Myeloma Beacon has compiled a list of the news articles and topics that Myeloma Beacon readers found most interesting during 2011.

#1: Revlimid And Secondary Cancers – …

I learned this week that my post-stem cell transplant consolidation therapy is continuing to work.  But the side effects are becoming less predictable.

My monoclonal protein number — also known as M-spike — has been dropping ever since I began consolidation therapy with Revlimid (lenalidomide), Velcade (bortezomib), and dexamethasone (Decadron), commonly abbreviated as RVD.  After two 6-week treatment cycles, my numbers are back to where they were just before my autologous stem cell transplant.

As many of …

Four clinical trials presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 annual meeting in San Diego last month suggest that Zolinza, in combination with a number of approved myeloma drugs, may be a treatment option for relapsed and treatment-resistant multiple myeloma patients.

However, results of a key Phase 3 trial involving the drug were disappointing, and they call into question whether the drug will receive formal FDA approval as a treatment for myeloma.

Zolinza (vorinostat), which is marketed by …

Happy New Year!

From the cozy warmth and comfort of our family room in the Midwest, my wife, daughters, and I vicariously celebrated the arrival of 2012 with no less than Dick Clark, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and a million or so hale-and-hearty occupiers of New York City’s iconic Times Square.

While the nearly six ton Waterford Crystal Ball majestically dropped 77 feet during the final minute of 2011, the girls and I joined the choir of unison voices for …

When you read this, I will have rung in the New Year in Tampa, Florida, preparing to cheer on the University of Georgia Bulldogs in this year’s Outback Bowl.  In my 15 years at Georgia, this is how I have spent most New Year’s – which is a good thing actually, as it means that the football team did well enough to be bowl eligible.  A good football season is a good thing indeed.

Last year, I spent Christmas with …

Pomalidomide was one of the potential new myeloma treatments in the spotlight at the 2011 meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) held earlier this month.

The consensus is that the drug, a chemical relative of thalidomide and Revlimid, performed well during its time on the stage.

Research findings about pomalidomide (Pomalyst) were summarized in four of the meeting’s oral presentations and a number of poster presentations.

Most of these presentations examined pomalidomide’s efficacy and …

I wish my doctors talked with each other.

Not all of them, just the main ones:  My two oncologists, my primary care physician, and my nephrologist.  Those are the doctors that I see regularly.

Sometimes they send each other their notes from my most recent visit, although I’m not sure this happens efficiently all the time.  On top of that, I suspect that these office visit notes don’t get read until I pop up in the queue for an appointment …