Good morning, myeloma world.

As we were finalizing today's edition of Myeloma Morning, we were suddenly reminded of how inter­na­tional the field of multiple myeloma research truly is.

The first research study we review below is by a team of German researchers. We also discuss two studies by Korean researchers, and a topic sparked by a report written by Chinese researchers. At the end of today's report, the list of new myeloma research articles also in­cludes publications by investigators in India, Israel, Italy, and the United States.

As we …

Back in February, I wrote about a big decision that I would be facing in a couple of months – whether to go off treatment for the first time since my multiple myeloma diagnosis in June of 2013. It is now two months later, and it is decision time.

I have decided to “take the plunge” into the world of a drug holiday.

“Taking the plunge” may seem like an odd way to phrase it, since this should be a time for relief mixed with joy rather than a jump into …

From the minute a person is diag­nosed with multiple myeloma, he or she is faced with a never-ending series of decisions. Because there are so many ways to approach treat­ment of the disease, and no consensus among experts on what approach to use, at the end of the day we must make these decisions for our­selves.

As myeloma research advances with the develop­ment of new drugs, new treat­ment combi­na­tions, and new studies on the efficacy of trans­planta­tion, these decisions become even more diffi­cult. After all, when the choices are limited, it’s easier …

The annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Euro­pean He­ma­tol­ogy Asso­ci­a­tion (EHA) took place earlier this month. The two meetings were attended by tens of thousands of physi­cians from around the world, and featured a myriad of oral pre­sen­ta­tions, posters, and e-abstracts summarizing the re­­sults of new on­col­ogy- and he­ma­tol­ogy-related re­search.

Included in the re­search pre­sented at the two meetings were more than 200 stud­ies discussing new mul­ti­ple myeloma-related findings.

In addi­tion to the two large meetings held earlier this month, the Inter­na­tion­al Myeloma Work­ing Group (IMWG) …

There are several analogies that are used to describe our ex­peri­ences liv­ing with multiple myeloma. The most common appear to be a battle, a jour­ney, or chap­ters in a book.

The analogy that currently resonates the most with me is the one of chap­ters in a book.

The titles of each chapter of my multiple myeloma book are pretty obvious: Diag­nosis, Radi­a­tion Treat­ment, Watch and Wait, Induction Ther­apy, and Autol­o­gous Stem Cell Trans­plant. The next chapter of my book will be entitled ‘Maintenance Therapy.’

In this column, I would like to share …

– Data Featured as Oral Presentation at ASH 2014 –

San Francisco (Press Release) –Takeda Pharma­ceu­tical Company Limited (TSE:4502) today announced results from an open-label, Phase 2 study eval­u­ating the safety and efficacy of oral, single-agent ixazomib (MLN9708) as main­te­nance ther­apy in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who had received ixazomib, lena­lido­mide and dexa­meth­a­sone as induction ther­apy. The data from this trial dem­onstrate the poten­tial feasibility of single-agent ixazomib main­te­nance ther­apy fol­low­ing 12 cycles of ixazomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone, with deepening responses and an acceptable tolerability profile. These data were presented today at the 56th American Society of Hematology (ASH) …

This year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago came to an end yesterday.

The fourth day of the meeting, which was Monday, was the busiest day in regard to myeloma-related re­search. It started with an oral pre­sen­ta­tion session that in­cluded seven talks about im­por­tant new myeloma-related re­search. A poster session in the afternoon in­cluded several posters about myeloma-related re­search.

This article summarizes the most im­por­tant findings from Monday’s oral pre­sen­ta­tion session. A later article will cover the findings from the after­noon poster session.

The morning session …