What were the myeloma-related "hidden gems" of the recent American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, which ended two weeks ago?

The Beacon asked exactly this question of its Medical Advisors -- the myeloma specialists who generously share their knowledge and expertise in the Beacon's myeloma discussion forum.

And the responses from the Advisors were surprising.

Surprising, because they were so similar.

The three Advisors who responded to the Beacon's question indepen­dently picked the same "hidden gem" -- specifically, the research presented at the meeting showing that the protein …

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 …

On the fourth and final day of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2011 annual meeting, there was one session in the morning with a number of important myeloma-related presentations.

The key findings of those presentations are summarized in this article.

Treatment Of High-Risk Smoldering Myeloma

Dr. María-Victoria Mateos from the University Hospital in Salamanca, Spain, kicked off the session.

She gave a presentation reviewing a Phase 3 trial she and her colleagues are conducting on the treatment of high-risk smoldering myeloma patients with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone (Decadron) (

As the third day of the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting came to an end, attendees could look back on an agenda that featured presentations about a wide range of potential new myeloma ther­a­pies.

The afternoon myeloma sessions were focused, in fact, on potential new ther­a­pies.

The Beacon's pre­vi­ous ASH 2011 update covered the afternoon presentations about carfilzomib and pomalidomide, two potential myeloma ther­a­pies that are in the late stages of devel­op­ment.

This update covers the afternoon's presentations about four other potential new myeloma ther­a­pies -- MLN9708, panobinostat, …

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 …

The initial results from three early-phase clinical trials suggest that the investi­gational drug MLN9708, either alone or in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and dexa­methasone, may be an effective treat­ment for both newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients and patients with re­lapsed and/or treat­ment-resistant disease.

The findings from the three trials were presented earlier this week at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in San Diego.

MLN9708 (ixazomib) belongs to the same class of drugs as Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib), called proteasome inhibitors, and it is being developed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, the same com­pany that developed …

The most recent re­­sults of a Phase 2 clin­i­cal trial in­di­cate that elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and dexa­meth­a­sone is safe and ef­fec­tive in re­lapsed and re­frac­tory mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

Dr. Sagar Lonial from the Winship Cancer In­sti­tute at the Emory Uni­ver­sity School of Medicine in Atlanta pre­sented the up­dated Phase 2 re­­sults at the American Society for He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) annual meeting in San Diego on Monday.

The preceding Phase 1 trial of elotuzumab showed that 82 per­cent of re­lapsed / refractory myeloma patients had a partial re­sponse or better to the drug in …