How has your week been, myeloma world?

Summer definitely is here at Myeloma Morning Headquarters. We had temper­a­tures yesterday and today that rival those normally seen in early August.

We're not exactly sure how we feel about this devel­op­ment.

As for myeloma-related news, we have a lot of ground to cover.

We have one new myeloma research study that we summarize at length. It's about a difficult subject, namely, the impact of early relapse on the over­all survival of multiple myeloma patients. It's a difficult subject be­cause, not surprisingly, early re­lapse con­tinues …

A happy Saturday to you, myeloma world.

We have some good news to report today. It also is im­por­tant news related to Darzalex (dara­tu­mu­mab).

Some addi­tional clin­i­cal trial results related to Darzalex were made public earlier this week, but they have not received much attention.

The new results show that adding Darzalex to Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) and dexa­metha­sone sub­stan­tially – some might even say dramatically – extends pro­gres­sion-free survival in re­lapsed multiple myeloma patients.

The new results expand on news announced at the end of March, which we covered in …

A happy Tuesday to you, myeloma world.

We have some in­ter­est­ing re­search to share with you.

First, we have re­­sults of a Phase 2 study investi­gating Empliciti (elotuzu­mab) in com­bi­na­tion with Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) and dexa­metha­sone (Decadron) in re­lapsed and re­frac­tory myeloma patients. The re­­sults show that Empliciti plus Velcade and dexa­metha­sone im­proves pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival com­pared to Velcade and dexa­metha­sone alone, without adding any sig­nif­i­cant side effects.

We also report on a study out of Italy that explores using Treanda (benda­mustine) in addi­tion to mel­phalan (Alkeran) as the high-dose chemo­therapy …

Before I get started, I want to share good news about my ongoing myeloma therapy.

If you recall, after a recent relapse, my doctors and I had decided to try adding Revlimid (lenalidomide) to my doublet of Velcade (bortezomib) and dexa­meth­a­sone (Decadron) one last time, hoping it might still work.  Although it has only been two months, the combination does seem to be helping; my M-spike has dropped from 0.5 g/dL down to 0.4 g/dL, or 20 percent.

But enough about me!

I recently heard from …

This Monday was the third day of the 2013 American Society of Hema­tol­o­gy (ASH) annual meeting, which was held in New Orleans.

More than any other day of the conference, Monday was packed with im­por­tant myeloma pre­sen­ta­tions, from 7:00 in the morning until almost 8:00 in the eve­ning.

This ASH update will summarize the oral pre­sen­ta­tion sessions about treat­ment-related myeloma studies that were held Monday morning. An ASH update that was pub­lished on Wednesday focused on the sessions that were held Monday afternoon and evening.

Monday morning started with three simultaneous …

Results from a recent retrospective analysis conducted in Germany indicate that the com­bi­na­tion of Velcade plus Treanda and pred­ni­sone is effective for re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma pa­tients with kidney im­pair­ment.

Specifically, 67 percent of pa­tients responded to the treatment, and kidney func­tion improved in 86 percent of pa­tients. The study investigators point out that the responses were rapid, with a median time to response of three weeks.  With a median progression-free survival of 10 months, some pa­tients experienced a long-term treatment-free interval.

Most of the severe side effects of the com­bi­na­tion …