The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved Farydak (panobinostat) for the treatment of multiple myeloma (see related Beacon news).

Since the FDA announced its decision, multiple myeloma patients, care­givers, and health care professionals have been asking a number of important questions about Farydak. This article compiles many of those questions and provides answers to them.

The information in this article is based primarily on the official, FDA-approved prescribing information for Farydak. …

A myeloma diagnosis is overwhelming in so many ways. Not only do you have to face the fact that you now have an incurable disease, you have to learn an en­tire­ly new vocabulary – and learn it fast.

M-spike. MGUS. IgG. Smoldering myeloma. Revlimid.

I’d never heard any of these terms before the fall of 2005. Now they’re part of my regular vocabulary.

I’m not one for learning languages. I struggled through many semesters of Spanish in high school and …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved panobinostat, which will be marketed under the brand name Farydak, for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Specifically, Farydak has been approved for use in combination with Velcade (bortezomib) and dexamethasone (Decadron) in patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior standard therapies.

The two prior therapies must include Velcade and at least one treatment from the immunomodulatory class of drugs, …

My topic for this column came to me during my son’s recent birthday party. Because I was still suffering from the effects of a recently contracted RSV virus, I kept apart from everyone and watched the activities going on in the kitchen and dining room from afar in “my chair” in the living room.

As we celebrated his 19^th birthday, I couldn’t help but wonder how my condition has impacted him and whether I have done the best I could …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ex­panded the of­ficial­ly ap­proved use of Revlimid to include the treat­ment of newly diag­nosed multiple myeloma.

Previously, Revlimid’s approval in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world was for the treat­ment of myeloma patients who have re­ceived at least one prior therapy.

With the expanded U.S. approval, there no longer is any re­striction regard­ing prior therapies in the FDA-approved pre­scrib­ing in­for­ma­tion for Rev­limid (lena­lido­mide).

The new edition of the pre­scrib­ing …

Let me start with a disclaimer. Nothing in this month’s column is meant to be perceived or taken as legal advice. If, after reading this column, you have ideas about estate planning, please consult with an attorney of your choice in the state in which you reside.

On my recent trip to Oregon, while 30,000 feet up in the air, it occurred to me that I had last updated my will in 2005, prior to my marriage. It also occurred …

On a cold day at the end of January, I was working out at the fitness center when I reflected about the role exercise has played in my life and how it has changed since my myeloma diagnosis. I had been walking outdoors a lot with our ‘grandpuppy,’ but the cold weather had driven me indoors for exercising.

The fitness center has been part of my life since before I had the vertebral fractures that led to my myeloma …