The 52nd annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology will take place Saturday, December 4, through Tuesday, December 7.

During the four-day meeting, clinical specialists from all over the world will discuss current research regarding the diagnosis and treatment of various blood diseases, including multiple myeloma. Over 20,000 people are expected to attend the event.

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting will include many presentations and posters focused on myeloma. The ASH website currently lists about 350 myeloma-related abstracts that will be presented in various poster sessions and oral presentations throughout the conference.

The Myeloma Beacon will be covering the event, so readers can expect many articles during and in the weeks after the meeting about the key myeloma findings.

A myeloma education session is scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday mornings. Dr. Ola Landgren from the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, will speak about monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, a disease that can progress to multiple myeloma. Dr. Raymond Comenzo from Tufts Medical Center in Boston will discuss novel therapies for amyloidosis, a disease related to myeloma and one that about 15 percent of myeloma patients also suffer from. Dr. Sagar Lonial from Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta will speak about therapy for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma.

During a scientific program being held on both Saturday and Sunday, Dr. William Matsui of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Dr. Alberto Orfao from the University of Salamanca in Spain, and Dr. Constantine Mitsiades from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston will speak about myeloma stem cells and how to target them with therapy.

Throughout the course of the meeting, researchers will orally present results from nearly 100 clinical trials studying the use of current myeloma therapies, stem cell transplantation, maintenance therapy, and emerging treatments. There will also be presentations about the biology of myeloma and the diagnosis and prognosis of people with myeloma.

Additionally, almost 250 posters specific to myeloma research will be displayed in seven separate poster sessions at the ASH meeting.

Many of the posters will highlight new combinations of myeloma drugs, dosing alternatives, prognosis factors, maintenance therapy, and bisphosphonates for bone disease as well as the emerging therapies carfilzomib, perifosine, pomalidomide, Zolinza (vorinostat), Treanda (bendamustine), elotuzumab, and many more investigational drugs in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials.

Additional information about the ASH meeting, including details about registration, the meeting schedule, and abstracts, can be found at the ASH website.