Opinion: Stem Cell Collection And Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment – In the latest article published in the opinion section of The Beacon, Lori Puente, whose husband is a multiple myeloma patient, wrote about her husband’s use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment to improve his number of stem cells available for collection.  Lori’s husband Dave received extensive radiation for his bone damage.  After being told that the radiation would likely severely hinder Dave’s ability to collect enough stem cells, Lori and Dave learned that hyperbaric oxygen treatment might increase the number of stem cells available for collection.  Lori describes in her article how Dave underwent hyperbaric oxygen treatment and successfully collected enough stem cells for 11 transplants. To receive a copy of all opinion articles when they are published or if you are interested in contributing an opinion piece, send an email to .

The Beacon’s ASH 2010 Coverage Is Now Completed – As of yesterday, The Beacon completed its comprehensive coverage of the 2010 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, including more than 20 articles with daily updates from the meeting and in-depth summaries of key myeloma-related presentations. Discussions about presentations from each day of the conference can also be found in the Beacon Forums (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4).

SNS01-T Receives Orphan Drug Status For Multiple Myeloma – On January 3, Senesco Technologies announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the company’s lead therapeutic candidate, SNS01-T, orphan drug status for the treatment of multiple myeloma. The FDA uses the orphan drug designation to promote the development of new treatments for diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 individuals in the United States. The orphan drug status provides the company with multiple benefits, including funding for clinical trials, accelerated FDA approval, and marketing exclusivity for up to seven years.  Senesco plans to begin clinical trials with SNS01-T later this year. For more information, please see the Senesco press release.

Epizyme Receives $1 Million From MMRF And $20 Million From GSK For Research That May Benefit Myeloma Patients – The Boston-area biotech company Epizyme recently announced $21 million in funding for the research of histone methyltransferase (HMT) inhibitors. Epizyme’s research targets HMT proteins that regulate the on/off switch for genes, many of which are associated with multiple myeloma and other cancers. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) awarded $1 million in funding to Epizyme for its development of innovative myeloma treatments. Epizyme will also receive $20 million plus additional milestone payments in a deal with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the discovery and development of Epizyme’s HMT inhibitors. Epizyme will be responsible for all research activities up to the selection of a development candidate for each target HMT. From that stage, GSK will control all further development and marketing activities. For more information, please see the MMRF and Epizyme press releases.