We hope you had a pleasant Wednesday, myeloma world.

Our Wednesday was going full steam ahead until modern tech­nology at Myeloma Morning Headquarters decided to take a vaca­tion. And this had to hap­pen, of course, on a day when we have some particularly in­ter­est­ing devel­op­ments to discuss.

What “developments” might those be, you ask?

Well, those “developments” would be the titles of all pre­sen­ta­tions to be given at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The titles were made public on Wednesday.

In this edition of Myeloma Morning ^[1], we share with you the titles of the multiple myeloma-related oral pre­sen­ta­tions planned for the upcoming ASCO meeting. We will look at the poster pre­sen­ta­tions in a separate edi­tion of Myeloma Morning.

The ASCO annual meeting, you may recall, is one of three particularly im­por­tant annual scientific meetings where new myeloma-related re­search findings are reported. The other two key conferences are the annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the European Hematology Association (EHA).

The ASH and EHA meetings typically feature much more myeloma-related re­search than the ASCO meeting. However, if there are im­por­tant myeloma-related re­search findings to be reported this time of the year, they will be reported at ASCO first, and then a little later at the EHA meeting.  (The ASCO meeting generally takes place at the end of May and beginning of June, and the EHA meeting is about a week later. The ASH meeting is in De­cem­ber.)

So what we learned Wednesday is the title of each and every oral pre­sen­ta­tion and poster pre­sen­ta­tion to be made at this year’s ASCO meeting.

What we did not learn, how­ever, are any of the results to be pre­sented during the pre­sen­ta­tions. ASCO released pre­sen­ta­tion titles, but not pre­sen­ta­tion abstracts. We will have to wait about four more weeks for the abstracts.

Still, the titles tell an in­ter­est­ing story, and we’re sure you won’t be surprised when we tell you that we’ve searched the titles and identified the multiple myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions.

By our count, there are about 90 myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions. The most im­por­tant of these are the oral pre­sen­ta­tions, but those are distinctly in the minority. Indeed, there are only 13 myeloma-related oral pre­sen­ta­tions planned for the meeting, not in­clud­ing education session oral pre­sen­ta­tions, which do not present new re­search, instead summarizing existing re­search.

The com­plete list of the myeloma-related oral pre­sen­ta­tion titles is at the end of today’s report. We will be interested to hear your thoughts on the titles. Here is what we noted.

First, we were struck by the fact that two of the 13 pre­sen­ta­tions focus on smol­der­ing multiple myeloma. That is a sign, we would say, of how re­searchers are paying more attention to the earlier, smol­der­ing stage of the dis­ease.

Second, isatuximab ^[6] – the CD38 mono­clonal anti­body formerly known as SAR650984 – will be getting a lot of attention, albeit entirely as treat­ment for re­lapsed multiple myeloma (in its two oral pre­sen­ta­tion abstracts).

Third, Ninlaro ^[7] (ixazomib) also will be getting its share of attention, also with two abstracts. One of those abstracts is for a study in newly diag­nosed myeloma patients, while the other is in re­lapsed patients. The study in re­lapsed patients is paired with a similar study featuring Kyprolis ^[8] (car­filz­o­mib) – a drug in the same class as Ninlaro.

Fourth, ongoing controversies – specifically the timing of trans­plan­ta­tion and the role of main­te­nance – get well-deserved slots in the list of oral pre­sen­ta­tions.

Finally, Darzalex ^[9] (dara­tu­mu­mab) gets a major pre­sen­ta­tion – a plenary “late breaking abstract” – but we also will get to see the clin­i­cal trial results for Aplidin (plitidepsin) that were recently announced ^[10]. And we get further looks at Keytruda (pem­bro­lizu­mab) and Venclexta (venetoclax) as poten­tial multiple myeloma ther­a­pies.

ASCO 2016 Multiple Myeloma Oral Presentations

Presentations are listed in chronological order of when they will be given at the meeting, with their abstract number first, title, and name of presenter

• 8000 – Upfront autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) versus novel agent-based therapy for multiple myeloma (MM): A randomized phase 3 study of the European Myeloma Network (EMN02/HO95 MM trial) – Michele Cavo (abstract ^[11])
• 8001 – Lenalidomide (LEN) maintenance (MNTC) after high-dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in multiple myeloma (MM): A meta-analysis (MA) of overall survival (OS) – Michel Attal (abstract ^[12])
• 8002 – Phase 1/2 trial of ixazomib, cyclophosphamide, and dexamethasone for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) – Martha Lacyr (abstract ^[13])
• 8003 – Genetic plasma cell signatures in high-risk smoldering myeloma versus multiple myeloma patients – Sham Mailankody (abstract ^[14])
• 8004 – Evolving changes in M-protein (M), quantitative involved immunoglobulin (Ig), and hemoglobin (Hb) to identify patients (pts) with ultra high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma (UHR-SMM) – Praful Kumar Ravi (abstract ^[15])
• 8005 – Updated data from a phase II dose finding trial of single agent isatuximab (SAR650984, anti-CD38 mAb) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) – Joshua Ryan Richter (abstract ^[16])
• 8006 – Phase I study of plitidepsin in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma – Enrique M. Ocio (abstract ^[17])
• 8007 – Phase 1/2 study of carfilzomib, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone (KPd) in patients (Pts) with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): A Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium multicenter study – Cara Ann Rosenbaum (abstract ^[18])
• 8008 – A phase I/II study of ixazomib (Ix) pomalidomide (POM) dexamethasone (DEX) in relapsed refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma: Initial results – Amrita Y. Krishnan (abstract ^[19])
• LBA4 – Phase III randomized controlled study of daratumumab, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (DVd) versus bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in patients (pts) with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): CASTOR study – Late Breaking Abstract – Antonio Palumbo (abstract ^[20])
• 8009 – A phase Ib dose escalation trial of isatuximab (SAR650984, anti-CD38 mAb) plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (Len/Dex) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): Interim results from two new dose cohorts – Ravi Vij (abstract ^[21])
• 8010 – Pembrolizumab in combination with lenalidomide and low-dose dexamethasone for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): Final efficacy and safety analysis – María-Victoria Mateos (abstract ^[22])
• 8011 – Phase Ib venetoclax combined with bortezomib and dexamethasone in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma – Philippe Moreau (abstract ^[23]).