It is hard to believe Christmas is here.  I’ve mentioned to some friends that, since my sister Deana’s myeloma diagnosis on April 27 this year, I’ve had little sense of the passage of seasons and holidays. I suspect many of you understand. 

Since my last column, Deana, who underwent a stem cell transplant the day before Thanksgiving, has been released from the hospital. So Christmas came early for us. 

When Deana was admitted for her transplant, one of the doctors …

The afternoon sessions of the third day of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 annual meeting in San Diego were just as awash with myeloma-related presentations as were the morning sessions.

Many of the afternoon sessions were devoted to two particular potential new myeloma treat­ments: car­filz­o­mib and pomalidome.

Those presentations will be covered in this article, while presentation from the afternoon sessions that were about other new ther­a­pies will be summarized in the final daily update for the meeting's …

The initial results from three early-phase clinical trials suggest that the investi­gational drug MLN9708, either alone or in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and dexa­methasone, may be an effective treat­ment for both newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients and patients with re­lapsed and/or treat­ment-resistant disease.

The findings from the three trials were presented earlier this week at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in San Diego.

MLN9708 (ixazomib) belongs to the same class of drugs as Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib), called proteasome inhibitors, …

So why name this column "Me vs. MM”?

Because I basically consider myself at war with multiple myeloma, and my philosophy is to battle it as best I can.

I realize it might be more appropriate to name it "Us vs. MM", since ours is definitely a collective effort that includes family, friends, doctors, nurses, and many others.

But, in the end, I just felt the personal part of the battle – the “me” – is too important to leave …

The most recent re­­sults of a Phase 2 clin­i­cal trial in­di­cate that elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and dexa­meth­a­sone is safe and ef­fec­tive in re­lapsed and re­frac­tory mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

Dr. Sagar Lonial from the Winship Cancer In­sti­tute at the Emory Uni­ver­sity School of Medicine in Atlanta pre­sented the up­dated Phase 2 re­­sults at the American Society for He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) annual meeting in San Diego on Monday.

The preceding Phase 1 trial of elotuzumab showed that 82 per­cent of re­lapsed / refractory …

Yesterday, the third day of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego, was the busiest day of the meeting for people interested in multiple myeloma.  Myeloma-related presentations filled the entire morning and afternoon, and sometimes there were even multiple relevant presentations going on simultaneously.

The morning presentations about therapies combining current myeloma drugs will be covered in this update.  Morning presentations about potential new myeloma therapies were covered in an update published earlier today, …

Yesterday was the third day of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) 2011 Annual Meeting in San Diego, and it was packed full with mul­ti­ple myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions. Presentations started early in the morn­ing and con­tinued through the afternoon.

The morn­ing pre­sen­ta­tions about po­ten­tial new myeloma ther­a­pies will be covered in this up­date, and pre­sen­ta­tions from the rest of the day will be covered in addi­tional up­dates.

MLN9708

During the first talk of the day, Dr. Paul Richardson from the Dana-Farber …