A Phase 2 clinical trial showed that plitidepsin alone had limited efficacy in heavily pretreated relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients. However, plitidepsin in combination with dexamethasone was effective enough to warrant further study. Plitidepsin alone or in combination with dexamethasone was well tolerated.

“Plitidepsin has not shown very significant efficacy when used in monotherapy,” explained Dr. María Mateos, the lead investigator of this study. “Nevertheless, in the present study we have seen some hints of activity in very heavily …

Kay Cromie, a bookkeeper and office manager from Burlington, Vermont, led a relatively normal and healthy life, until she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma on November 1, 2003.

Cromie was never prone to getting sick, and she worked out regularly at the gym to stay in shape. However, after turning 50, she noticed that she was getting tired during her workouts and could no longer lift weights with as much ease as before, prompting her to see a doctor.

“They …

A recent study conducted in Spain demonstrated that for multiple myeloma patients treated with Velcade, prior vincristine-based treatment and the absence of neurological monitoring are factors that may increase the risk of developing nerve damage in their limbs.

The study authors suggested that patients be given a clinical and neurological assessment prior to treatment with Velcade.  If the patients’ resulting score is high enough to suggest the development of a severe form of Velcade-induced nerve damage, patients should continue to …

Last week, I spoke briefly with Greg Geissman, a public relations contact at Celgene, about the projected timeline for a new Phase 3 pomalidomide  research study in multiple myeloma.

As Greg finished describing the timeline, my mind wondered. I began to think about how different people view time.

Greg explained that it will take six months or more to find enough qualifying patients willing to participate in the study. The study itself will then take several years to complete. …

A recent study showed that initial treatment of multiple myeloma with a combination of cyclophosphamide and thalidomide negatively impacts a patient’s ability to collect stem cells for transplant.

Physicians were able to collect almost 50 percent fewer stem cells from patients treated with cyclophosphamide and thalidomide (Thalomid) compared to patients treated with other commonly used myeloma treatments. This combination therapy may prevent stem cells from moving from the bone marrow into the circulating blood, where they are harvested …

“You have multiple myeloma.”

That phrase, delivered by physicians at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science’s (UAMS) in November of 2008, was the first official, irrefutable diagnosis of my cancer career. We suspected that I had myeloma, but there it was. They said it out loud, and it still reverberates in my mind.

While I would have much rather heard, “Tests show that there is a pea underneath your mattress that has been causing your back pain,” I knew …

A Phase 1 study found the four-drug combination of Revlimid-Velcade-dexamethasone-cyclophosphamide (RVCD) to be safe and effective in newly diagnosed, previously untreated multiple myeloma patients.

These results suggest that adding cyclophosphamide as the fourth drug in the treatment therapy may be just as or more effective than traditional two- and three-drug combinations. The study also determined that 500 mg/m² cyclophosphamide, the highest dose tested, could safely be used in the RVCD drug combination.

Previous studies have shown that three-drug combinations …