Myeloma Expert Dr. James R. Berenson To Field Questions At The Beacon Forums Next Week –Multiple myeloma patients will once again have the opportunity to get expert answers to their myeloma-related questions: Leading myeloma expert Dr. James R. Berenson, founder of the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research, will answer medical questions posted to the Beacon’s multiple myeloma forums during the upcoming week. Readers are encouraged to begin posting their questions in the forums.

Potential Myeloma Treatment Mapatumumab Fails In Phase 2 Trials – Human Genome Sciences announced on Wednesday that results from a recent Phase 2 trial showed that mapatumumab (HGS-ETR1) in combination with Velcade (bortezomib) did not lead to better response rates or progression-free survival than Velcade alone. However, the treatment was well tolerated in trial participants. For more information, please see the Human Genome Sciences press release.

PharmaMar Initiates Phase 3 Myeloma Trial Of Plitidepsin – Spanish company PharmaMar on Tuesday announced the start of enrollment for an international Phase 3 trial of plitidepsin (proposed brand name: Aplidin) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients. The trial will enroll 300 patients and will test plitidepsin in combination with dexamethasone (Decadron) vs. dexamethasone alone. Plitidepsin is an antitumor agent of marine origin that is synthetically produced. For more information, please see the PharmaMar press release and the trial information at ClinicalTrials.gov.