Pomalyst is now approved in Canada for the treatment of certain patients with multiple myeloma.

Specifically, Health Canada approved Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid) for use in combination with dex­a­meth­a­sone (Decadron) in patients with multiple myeloma for whom both Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Velcade (bor­tezomib) have failed, who have received at least two prior treatment regimens, and who have demon­strat­ed disease progression on their last therapy.

Health Canada approved Pomalyst on January 20, but the approval was first announced this morning. …

At the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which took place in December, there were many oral and poster pre­sen­ta­tions about Pomalyst, the newest drug approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Many of the presentations were about studies of Pomalyst (poma­lido­mide, Imnovid) and dex­a­meth­a­sone (Decadron) in combination with a third drug, such as Velcade (bortezomib), Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), cla­rith­ro­my­cin (Biaxin), cyclo­phos­pha­mide (Cytoxan), …

Myeloma is a heterogeneous disease.  I hear that phrase used often among multiple myeloma specialists.  But what does it mean?

It means that myeloma isn’t a single type of cancer.  It‘s a multifaceted demon, effecting each of us in surprising and unexpected ways.  Researchers now believe that there can even be several different types of myeloma in the same patient.  As you can imagine, this makes myeloma exceedingly difficult to treat; it’s hard to hit a moving target!

Sometimes myeloma …

A freezing rain was coming down that mid-January 2009 morning as I arrived at the hospital to continue round number two of induction chemotherapy in my ongoing battle against multiple myeloma.

Although I was feeling the unpleasant side effects and exhaustion of the rather aggressive treatment, I was nonetheless in good spirits.

My fingers were crossed that it would be an uncomplicated, give-some-blood, get-some-chemo, and skedaddle-on-home, kind of day. That was the plan anyway.

Sharing an umbrella, my wife and …

One of the key presentations during the recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in New Orleans was one that summarized initial results of a large international Phase 3 clinical trial known as the "FIRST", or MM-020, trial.

The trial results show that continuous administration of Revlimid and dex­a­meth­a­sone improves response rates as well as progression-free and overall survival in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients who are older or not eligible for stem cell transplantation.

Specifically, the researchers found …

Sometimes newly diagnosed patients will contact me, looking for advice.  I love connecting with other patients, but when it comes to advice for the newly diagnosed, I always have to sit and think for a while. What are the most important things they should know? What do I wish I had known when I was diagnosed back in 2005?

I know that every case of multiple myeloma is different, but here are the things I have learned in my eight-plus …

The 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which took place last month, featured many oral and poster presentations about Kyprolis, one of the newest drugs to be approved for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

The drug con­tinues to be tested in various com­bi­na­tions in both newly diag­nosed and re­lapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients, as well as in patients with the myeloma precursor disease smol­der­ing myeloma.

In most trials, Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib) was com­bined with dex­a­meth­a­sone …