The 46th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) kicks off on June 4 in Chicago.

More than 30,000 clinical specialists from all over the world are expected to attend the five day meeting to discuss the most current research in cancer treatment and care. This year’s meeting, which will feature more than 4,000 presentations and posters, will primarily focus on the theme of “Advancing Quality through Innovation.”

The ASCO meeting will include many presentations and seminars focused on multiple myeloma. The ASCO website currently lists over 70 myeloma-based abstracts. The Myeloma Beacon will be covering some of the meeting’s key myeloma presentations in the coming weeks.

Treatments Under Development

Several of this year’s ASCO presentations will unveil results from Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials of drugs under development for treatment of multiple myeloma. In particular, there will be many presentations on pomalidomide, carfilzomib, and elotuzumab.

On June 5 Dr. Ravi Vij will present the results of an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of carfilzomib in patients with relapsed and/or refractory (resistant) myeloma. Dr. William Bensinger will present a poster on June 4 on the results of a dose-escalation study of carfilzomib plus Revlimid (lenalidomide) and low-dose dexamethasone (Decadron) in relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. Dr. Ashraf Z. Badros will present a poster on June 5 on the results of carfilzomib in relapsed/refractory myeloma patients with impaired kidney function.

On June 5 Dr. Martha Lacy will present a poster on a study that found the combination of pomalidomide and dexamethasone to be active in patients who are refractory to both Revlimid and Velcade (bortezomib).

Dr. Andrzej Jakubowiak will present on a poster on June 5 on the results of a Phase 1 study that evaluated the combination of elotuzumab and Velcade in relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. A second presentation on June 6 by Dr. Sagar Lonial will discuss the results of a Phase 1/2 trial that investigated the combination of elotuzumab, Velcade, and low-dose dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory patients.

Maintenance Therapy

This year’s ASCO Annual Meeting will feature several sessions on maintenance therapy after stem cell transplantation. The preliminary data from two major studies indicates that even if a patient achieves a “complete response,” it is still important to continue treatment with targeted, tolerable drugs.

Highlights include a report by Dr. Philip McCarthy on June 6 about the results of a Phase 3 study that compared maintenance therapy with Revlimid versus a placebo in patients who received single autologous stem cell transplantation. Results will also be reported for other maintenance therapies that include Velcade, melphalan (Alkeran), prednisone, and thalidomide (Thalomid); Velcade and dexamethasone; and Revlimid alone.

Long-Term Survivors Of Multiple Myeloma

As research continues to advance, doctors can look further in the future for their patients. This year’s ASCO meeting will include presentations on the few people —less than two percent of people with multiple myeloma, according to some University of Texas researchers— who have lived with multiple myeloma for more than 10 years. ASCO Meeting presenters will try to characterize long-term survivors and how they were treated, in hopes of increasing that two percent figure in the future.

Elderly Myeloma Patients

Several of the presentations will discuss treatment management and patient care for elderly myeloma patients.

On June 4 Dr. Vicki A. Morrison will host an educational session on the treatment management for older patients with leukemia and myeloma. In a separate presentation, Dr. Jesus San-Miguel will also discuss new treatment regimens for older myeloma patients.

For more information on ASCO’s 46th Annual Meeting, including presentation abstracts, the final schedules, and information on attending, please see the American Society of Clinical Oncology website.