I try to make a point about not talking in my column too much about whatever symp­tom, side effect, or malady is affecting me at any particular time.

But suffice it to say that lately there has been a lot going on with me, and it has brought to the forefront that inevitable discussion about what to do next should my current treat­ment regi­men of Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) and dexamethasone (Decadron) start to fail.

I’ve discussed this prospect at various times over the past year with the handful of myeloma doctors …

It has been ten days since the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) came to a close.

Since the meeting started, The Beacon has been providing detailed coverage in the form of discussion forum postings, daily up­dates, and in-depth articles about key re­search findings.

In this and The Beacon's next article about the meeting, how­ever, the per­spective changes a bit.

The focus shifts to the bigger picture -- to questions like: "What was the im­pact of the meeting?", and …

The afternoon sessions of the third day of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 annual meeting in San Diego were just as awash with myeloma-related presentations as were the morning sessions.

Many of the afternoon sessions were devoted to two particular potential new myeloma treat­ments: car­filz­o­mib and pomalidome.

Those presentations will be covered in this article, while presentation from the afternoon sessions that were about other new ther­a­pies will be summarized in the final daily update for the meeting's third day.

Carfilzomib

Carfilzomib (Kyprolis) is an investigational drug that belongs to the …

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. com­pany developing car­filz­o­mib as a potential new treat­ment for multiple myeloma, announced earlier today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted "standard review designation" to the com­pany's New Drug Applica­tion for car­filz­o­mib.

This means that the FDA expects to make a decision by July 27, 2012, on Onyx's application to market carfilzomib (Kyprolis) in the United States.

The announcement is a disappointment for Onyx, which had hoped to receive a so-called "priority review" of the car­filz­o­mib application.

The target FDA review time for applications granted …

Yesterday was the first day of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) 2011 annual meeting, which is being held in San Diego.

Although the day featured no oral pre­sen­ta­tions of new myeloma-related re­search, it started with an in­ter­est­ing educational session focused on mul­ti­ple myeloma.

There also were a num­ber of poster pre­sen­ta­tions during the day summarizing im­por­tant new re­search findings.

The educational session in the morn­ing featured three pre­sen­ta­tions by lead­ing myeloma spe­cialists.

Induction Therapy And Maintenance Treatment

The first pre­sen­ta­tion was by Dr. Donna Reece of the Princess Margaret Hospital in …

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. com­pany developing car­filz­o­mib as a potential new treat­ment for multiple myeloma, announced this morning that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the com­pany's New Drug Applica­tion for car­filz­o­mib.

The announcement means that the FDA will now begin its full review of carfilzomib (Kyprolis).

The length of time required for that review depends on whether the FDA grants the drug what is known as "priority review."

If car­filz­o­mib is granted priority review, the FDA will aim to make a decision on the application by the …

Earlier this year, an inter­na­tional group of myeloma experts pub­lished a review of ongoing re­search into new myeloma treat­ments.  This review not only described a wide range of po­ten­tial new myeloma treat­ments, but also in­cluded the experts' thoughts on where re­search into new treat­ments should go in the future.

Given the recent new drug appli­ca­tion for car­filz­o­mib and the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy -- which undoubtedly will host dis­cus­sions of many po­ten­tial new myeloma treat­ments -- it seems an appro­pri­ate time to go back to the experts' review from …