Multiple myeloma specialists have begun to gather at the 14th Inter­national Myeloma Workshop to review the latest findings in the field of multiple myeloma. The meeting started in Kyoto, Japan, earlier today and will run through Sunday, April 7.

The International Myeloma Workshop (IMW) is a scientific meeting that focuses solely on myeloma-related research findings. It takes place every two years at locations around the world.

The research presented at the meeting will cover all areas of multiple myeloma, including the biology, diag­nosis, treatment, and progression of the disease.

The Myeloma Beacon will report on the most important new findings from the meeting in the coming days and weeks.

Along with the IMW, the annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the European Hematology Association (EHA) are the key meetings in which the latest myeloma research findings are presented.

Most of the research findings presented at scientific meetings are communicated in either oral presenta­tions or poster summaries.

Research findings presented in oral presentations are generally considered particularly important, either because the subject itself is important, or the results are based on substantial amounts of evidence (for example, a sizable clinical trial).

Other research findings are presented during poster sessions, in which researchers display summaries of their results on posters in an exhibition hall.

Compared to the research summarized during oral presentations, the findings in poster summaries gener­ally are in earlier stages of development.  They may involve laboratory research, clinical trials with just a small number of patients, or early results from ongoing clinical trials.

This year’s IMW began today with an oral presentation session in the evening (Japan time) that included four talks focused on relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

The following three days, Thursday through Saturday, will be packed with both oral and poster presentations.

On Thursday morning, workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn about genomics and plasma cell biology during oral presentation sessions. New findings related to myeloma bone disease and new imaging techniques will be discussed during afternoon sessions.

Friday morning features a session on minimal residual disease and a session during which experts will discuss whether multiple myeloma can become a chronic disease in the near-term future.

During the first session in the afternoon, researchers will discuss and debate different approaches to initially treating transplant-eligible patients.  Then they will discuss whether high-risk myeloma patients should be treated differently than standard-risk patients.

A session in the evening focuses on the precursor diseases monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering myeloma.

Saturday kicks off with a plenary session in the early morning that features oral presentations about clinical trials involving Kyprolis (carfilzomib) and Pomalyst (pomalidomide), among other topics.

The plenary session will be followed by two morning sessions on kidney impairment and progression from MGUS to myeloma. In the afternoon, experts will discuss current and future treatment paradigms in multiple myeloma as well as consolidation and maintenance therapy.

Sunday, the final day of the meeting, will also start with a plenary session that features research results on a variety of different topics, including new techniques to predict disease progression and survival. One of the presentations will also feature an update about the long-term safety of Revlimid (lenalidomide) in newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

The program continues with another session on plasma cell biology in the morning.

The final session of the meeting will be held in the early afternoon and will focus on relapsed multiple myeloma.

In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to view and discuss posters about the latest myeloma research during poster sessions to be held Thursday through Saturday.

For more information on the 14th International Myeloma Workshop, please see the meeting website.