Dr. Edward Libby To Serve As The Myeloma Beacon’s First Medical Advisor – As a medical advisor for The Myeloma Beacon, Dr. Edward Libby, an asso­ci­ate professor of hematology and oncology at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center who specializes in multiple myeloma and other blood cancers, will be available to comment on current research results as well as answer select medical questions posted to the Beacon’s multiple myeloma forums.  For more in­­for­ma­tion about getting your medical question answered by a Beacon Medical Advisor, please see the instructions in the forums.

European Carfilzomib Trial To Be Expanded – Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the com­pany developing car­filz­o­mib, announced last week that it will expand the Phase 3 European clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of car­filz­o­mib in re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.  Patient enrollment will be increased from 84 to 300.  In addi­tion, the main goal of the study will be to evaluate car­filz­o­mib’s impact on over­all survival, instead of pro­gres­sion-free survival.  The changes are being made based on preliminary results of a Phase 2b car­filz­o­mib study that showed promising over­all survival rates in re­lapsed / refractory myeloma patients (see related Beacon news).  For more in­­for­ma­tion about the expanded trial, see the Onyx Pharmaceuticals press release.

Teleconference On Advances In Myeloma Treatment – On April 12, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will sponsor a free teleconference call entitled “Advances in Myeloma Treatment and Side Effects Management.”  The call will begin at noon Eastern Time and will be lead by Dr. Edward Stadtmauer, director of the bone marrow and stem cell trans­plant pro­gram at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center.  He will also speak about clinical trial par­tic­i­pa­tion and quality of life issues for myeloma patients.  After his talk, Dr. Stadtmauer will answer questions from participants.  For more in­­for­ma­tion or to register, please see the LLS website.

For a more detailed listing of myeloma related-events, please check the Myeloma Beacon Events Calendar.