This Monday was the third full day of the American Society of Hematology 2010 annual meeting, and it was packed with multiple myeloma-related presentations.  The Beacon published an update earlier today covering presentations made Monday morning.  This article covers material from Monday afternoon and evening.

The first presentation of the afternoon was by Dr. Ruben Niesvizky of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.  He reported on the results of a Phase 3 trial using Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib)-based initial treat­ment (induction) regi­mens com­bined with weekly Velcade main­te­nance ther­apy (abstract).

Patients in this trial were newly …

Monday was the third full day of “ASH 2010,” this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.  This day was the busiest of the entire meeting in terms of multiple myeloma-related material.  Presentations summarizing the latest myeloma research stretched from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

The morning presentations from Monday will be covered in this update, and presentations from the afternoon and evening will be covered in another update later today.

The day featured a large number of presentations and posters about Velcade (bortezomib), examining its use in …

A recent study showed that maintenance therapy with thalidomide and interferon delayed progression, but did not extend survival, in elderly multiple myeloma patients. Additionally, the thalidomide-interferon maintenance therapy caused slightly more side effects than maintenance therapy with interferon alone.

Previous studies have indicated that in younger patients, maintenance therapy with thalidomide (Thalomid) after stem cell transplantation resulted in increased progression-free survival time in all trials and in increased overall survival time in two out of five trials (see related Beacon news 1, 2, and 3).

However, it was …

The results of a recent study suggest that donor stem cell transplants may not be necessary as part of first line therapy for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. These findings were presented at the recent European Hematology Association (EHA) meeting held in Barcelona, Spain.

Despite its frequent use in the treatment of multiple myeloma, stem cell transplantation remains a risky procedure with many possible complications.

Patients can either receive their own stem cells during this procedure (autologous stem cell transplant) or receive the stem cells from a healthy donor (allogeneic stem cell …

Maintenance therapy with thalidomide (Thalomid) improves progression-free survival of multiple myeloma patients but has no impact on overall survival, according to a recent study. Additionally, patients with an aggressive form of myeloma show no benefit from this treatment. The findings were presented by Dr. James Child of the United Kingdom’s Clinical Trials Research Unit at the European Hematology Association (EHA) annual meeting in Barcelona on June 13.

Maintenance therapy is long-term, often low-dose and continuous, treatment given to prevent relapse in myeloma patients who have achieved remission. Until recently, use of …

Revlimid (lenalidomide) is an effective maintenance therapy after stem cell transplantation in multiple myeloma patients, according to two Phase 3 studies presented on Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Based on the results of these two studies as well as a previous study, Revlimid maintenance therapy is likely to become a common addition to the treatment of myeloma.

Dr. Sergio Giralt of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston led a discussion about these two studies during which he said, “[These are] …

The third day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2010 annual meeting in Chicago was tailor-made for morn­ing people interested in mul­ti­ple myeloma.  The key myeloma-related activity on Sunday, June 6 was a morn­ing abstract session start­ing at 9:30 a.m.  Nine abstracts were pre­sented and discussed over the course of three hours.

The first two pre­sen­ta­tions dealt with Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib)-related re­search.

Dr. Antonio Palumbo of the Uni­ver­sity of Turin pre­sented the re­­sults of the first study.  It com­pared two regi­mens for the treat­ment of newly diag­nosed elderly myeloma patients.  The first regi­men in­volved …