This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which is being held in Chicago, began yesterday and goes through Tuesday.

The first of the myeloma-related sessions at this year's meeting began this morning with a poster session, in which important new research findings were summarized on posters throughout a large conference hall.

MLN9708

This morning’s session included two posters about MLN9708 (ixazomib), an oral drug that works similarly to Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) and is being in­ves­ti­gated for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma as well as …

The 48th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will take place Friday, June 1, through Tuesday, June 5, in Chicago.

More than 25,000 clin­i­cal spe­cialists from all over the world are ex­pec­ted to attend the five-day meeting to discuss the cur­rent re­search in cancer treat­ment and care. The theme for this year’s meeting is “Collaborating to Conquer Cancer.”

The meeting will in­clude many pre­sen­ta­tions and seminars focused spe­cif­i­cally on mul­ti­ple myeloma. The ASCO website cur­rently lists nearly 50 myeloma-based pre­sen­ta­tions (included under “lymphoma and plasma cell disorders”).

The …

It seems that one of the most common (and reviled) topics in the Beacon's columns and forums is dexa­meth­a­sone and its side effects.

For most of the 15 cycles I've been receiving treat­ment, I haven't had much in the way of side effects related to the dexamethasone (Decadron).  I certainly haven't experienced some of the significant issues that a lot of others have.

Recently however, the effects have been getting more noticeable.

Still, I hadn't planned on using it as a subject for a column, but as fate would have it, …

Onyx Pharmaceuticals has proposed ‘Kyprolis’ as the trademarked brand name for car­filz­o­mib.  The name was announced this morning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA con­firmed in the announcement that the agency’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, which advises the FDA during its review of potential new cancer drugs, will discuss the new drug application for Kyprolis (carfilzomib) on June 20.  Onyx (NASDAQ: ONXX), the com­pany developing car­filz­o­mib, announced the review date last week (see related Beacon news).

The official use of carfilzomib that the committee …

Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced this morning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a date for an advisory committee meeting to review the com­pany’s application for approval of car­filz­o­mib.

Onyx (NASDAQ: ONXX) has applied to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to have carfilzomib (Kyprolis) approved for treat­ment of re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients who have had at least two prior ther­a­pies.

The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), which advises the FDA regarding the potential approval of new cancer drugs, will meet on June 20 to review the  carfilzomib application. …

Many new and promising re­search devel­op­ments oc­curred in the field of mul­ti­ple myeloma during 2011. Over the course of the year, The Myeloma Beacon pub­lished nearly 100 articles on im­por­tant myeloma-related stud­ies.

To identify the most im­por­tant of these stud­ies from 2011, The Myeloma Beacon surveyed lead­ing physicians and re­searchers in the field.  They were asked to name the three peer-reviewed journal articles pub­lished in 2011 and the three conference pre­sen­ta­tions from 2011 that have the most im­por­tant findings or implications relating to mul­ti­ple myeloma.

Their selections for the most im­por­tant journal …

Onyx Pharmaceuticals this afternoon issued an announcement summarizing its full year and fourth quarter 2011 financial results.

Company man­agement also discussed the firm's financial results and near-term plans in an analyst conference call later in the day.

Contrary to speculation by some analysts, today's announcement and man­agement discussion did not provide any significant new in­­for­ma­tion about the ongoing review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of carfilzomib (Kyprolis).

Onyx (NASDAQ: ONXX) has submitted a new drug application to the FDA asking it to approve car­filz­o­mib as …