- First Phase III study of dara­tu­mu­mab
- Patient recruitment to start in the coming months

Copenhagen (Press Release) - Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced today that its partner, Janssen Biotech, Inc. ("Janssen") will start a Phase III study of dara­tu­mu­mab in re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.  The study will compare dara­tu­mu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with lena­lido­mide and dexa­metha­sone to lena­lido­mide and dexa­metha­sone alone.

"The dara­tu­mu­mab devel­op­ment pro­gram is progressing very well.  We are extremely pleased to be able to announce that this study eval­u­ating dara­tu­mu­mab in com­bi­na­tion with a core multiple myeloma treat­ment regime will ini­ti­ate patient recruitment in the coming months," said Jan van de Winkel, Ph.D., …

The year 2013 is likely to be remembered as a very good year when it comes to re­search related to multiple myeloma.

Previous years have witnessed re­search shedding new light on existing my­e­lo­ma ther­a­pies, as well as addi­tional re­search about poten­tial new ther­a­pies.

But, in the past, most of the im­por­tant new ther­a­pies that were being re­searched were from existing classes of ther­apy, making them less likely to offer dramatic im­prove­ments in the treat­ment of the dis­ease.

In 2013, not only was there more re­search about existing ther­a­pies, and more re­search about …

This year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) began yesterday morning in New Orleans.

Myeloma-related presentations were made during several sessions yesterday.

Two sessions were designed to better educate physicians about multiple myeloma and how to treat the disease.

The key myeloma-related research presented yesterday was made public during a poster session in the evening about the biology of myeloma as well as pre­clin­i­cal and clin­i­cal studies testing new and existing treat­ments for myeloma.

During the session, research results were made avail­able for review by meeting attendees in the form …

The Beacon con­tinues today with its ‘ASH preview’ series about mye­lo­ma re­search that will be pre­sented at the American Society of Hema­tol­o­gy (ASH) meet­ing in early December.

Abstracts for the ASH presentations are now avail­able, although many con­tain pre­lim­i­nary in­­for­ma­tion that will be updated at the meet­ing.

The Beacon’s ASH preview articles are in­tended to highlight the meet­ing's most in­ter­est­ing myeloma-related studies.

The first and second previews, published earlier this week and last week, provide an overview of ASH abstracts about the newest poten­tial mye­lo­ma ther­a­pies just starting out in clin­i­cal trials.  Further previews will …

• After initial data read-out in Part 1, study may possibly be expanded and continued in Part 2 for use as a potential registration study
• Patient recruitment expected to start soon

Copenhagen (Press Release) - Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) announced today that its partner, Janssen Bio­tech, Inc. ("Janssen") will start a new Phase II study of dara­tu­mu­mab in multiple myeloma.  The Phase II study is designed in 2 parts in multiple myeloma patients who have received at least three dif­fer­en­t lines of ther­apy in­­clud­ing both a pro­te­a­some inhibitor and an immuno­modu­la­tory agent (IMiD) or who are double refractory to a pro­te­a­some inhibitor and an IMiD.  This is the same indi­ca­tion for which dara­tu­mu­mab was granted Break­through Therapy Desig­na­tion from the …

Physicians and researchers have started gathering for the 18th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), which will take place in Stockholm this year.  The first education and poster sessions of the meet­ing will take place tomorrow, Friday, June 14.  Additional sessions of vari­ous kinds are scheduled for both days of the weekend, until the meet­ing ends early Sunday afternoon (European time).

The research presented at the meeting will cover all areas of hematology, which is the study of blood, blood-forming organs, and blood-related dis­eases, in­clud­ing multiple myeloma.

The EHA meeting is …

This year’s meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) was held May 31 through June 4 in Chicago.

During the meeting, The Beacon pub­lished daily up­dates that provided over­views of the im­por­tant mul­ti­ple myeloma findings pre­sented during the meeting.

Now that the meeting has concluded, the focus shifts to the bigger picture: What were the key findings of the meeting? Were there re­­sults with im­medi­ate im­pli­ca­­tions for the treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma?  Did the re­search at the meeting rep­re­sent a major step for­ward for myeloma patients, or …