A new pro­gram has been started that will make it easier for re­lapsed mul­ti­ple myeloma patients in the United States to be treated with the in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al drug daratumumab.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which is devel­op­ing dara­tu­mu­mab in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Danish bio­technology com­pany Genmab, has ini­ti­at­ed an “ex­panded access pro­gram” – a special kind of clin­i­cal trial – to broaden op­por­tu­ni­ties for qualify­ing U.S. myeloma patients to be treated with the drug.

The pro­gram is ex­pec­ted to remain …

I was thinking recently about a challenge that comes up reg­u­larly in my pro­fes­sional role as a learning consultant and instructional designer.

I am hired to develop corporate training materials, and one of my responsibilities is helping clients identify the key learning objectives for their training projects.

This aspect of my work got me wondering: If I were to consult with myeloma pa­tients and their families, what learning objectives would I recommend for them? What skills do they need the …

The annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Euro­pean He­ma­tol­ogy Asso­ci­a­tion (EHA) took place earlier this month. The two meetings were attended by tens of thousands of physi­cians from around the world, and featured a myriad of oral pre­sen­ta­tions, posters, and e-abstracts summarizing the re­­sults of new on­col­ogy- and he­ma­tol­ogy-related re­search.

Included in the re­search pre­sented at the two meetings were more than 200 stud­ies discussing new mul­ti­ple myeloma-related findings.

In addi­tion to the two …

I have a 10-year-old daughter, which means I’ve seen the Disney Channel movie High School Musical many, many times. I’m not sure how many times; I’ll just say I’ve seen it more times than any mentally healthy person really should.

If you don’t have a 10-year-old living in your house, I’ll sum up the plot: The movie is about a group of high school students who are all in a musical.

At the very end of the movie, they decide …

A recent event gave me food for thought.

I started writing this column exactly one year from the date I was ad­mitted to under­go an autol­o­gous stem cell trans­plant. Coinci­dentally, my latest three-month check-up occurred on that very same day. I have not been one who believes that a new life begins with a transplant, replete with the cele­bra­tion of new birth­days, so I have not made a big deal of this one-year anni­ver­sary.

However, the fact that …

As I wrote last month, in early June I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minne­sota, at the suggestion of my on­col­o­gist to get a second opinion on my cancer.

There are many ways to tell the same story.

This is one way. I have relapsed. The myeloma is pro­gress­ing at the same in­ex­orable glacial pace that has marked it for the last decade. I have stopped tak­ing Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) and will begin Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib) …

Boy, do I strike out on this one!

Yes, I thank God everyday for being alive.  And last night I took our dog, Finnegan, out for a midnight walk down to the beach under a glorious full moon.

But truth be told, I get too caught up in all I have to do every day.

There are advantages and disadvantages to working from home. Yes, I can get up and write in the shorts and T-shirts I slept in last …