Dr. Jason Valent Joins The Beacon’s Medical Advisor Team – Dr. Jason Valent, associate staff in the Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders Department of the Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Institute, has joined The Myeloma Beacon’s team of Medical Advisors.  Beacon Medical Advisors assist with answering medical questions posted in the Beacon's multiple myeloma forums ^[1].  Dr. Valent is answering questions this week. For more information about getting medical questions answered in the forums, please see these instructions ^[2].

Additional Pomalidomide Survival Results Announced – Results from a Phase 3 study show that pomalidomide ^[3] plus low-dose dexamethasone ^[4] (Decadron) extends the survival of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients, as compared to high-dose dexamethasone alone.  Specifically, median progression-free survival was 15.7 weeks for those treated with pomalidomide, as compared to 8 weeks for those treated only with dexamethasone.  In addition, pomalidomide significantly extended overall survival; at the time of the analysis, median overall survival was not yet reached for those treated with pomalidomide and 34 weeks for those treated with dexamethasone alone.  Additional results will be presented at the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting.  For more information, see the ASH ^[5] abstract and the Beacon news article ^[6] about the initial – less detailed – announcement of the recent pomalidomide survival findings.

Wogonin May Be Active Against Multiple Myeloma – Results of a recent Chinese study indicate that the compound wogonin may be effective against multiple myeloma. Wogonin is found in the traditional herb baikal skullcap, also known as Chinese skullcap, and has been shown to inhibit cell growth and trigger cell death in a variety of cancer cell lines. In the current study, Chinese researchers showed that wogonin triggers cancer cell death in human myeloma cell lines. For more information, please see the study in the journal Life Sciences ^[7] (abstract).

Aspartame May Increase Men’s Risk Of Developing Myeloma – Results of a recent study indicate that men who drink more than one aspartame-containing diet soda per day have an increased risk of developing multiple myeloma, compared to men who do not drink diet soda. The researchers did not observe the same increased risk among women. Aspartame is a common artificial sweetener.  It is the active ingredient in the branded artificial sweetener NutraSweet. For more information, please see the study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ^[8] (abstract).