Yesterday was the first day of research presentations at this year’s American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, which is being held in Atlanta.

Research findings related to multiple myeloma was presented in three different sessions during the day.

Two of the sessions were actually the same general educational session about multiple myeloma, repeated at two different times during the day. The Beacon will cover the presentations given during those sessions in a separate daily update.

The key myeloma-related research presented yesterday, however, was made public during a poster session in the …

Today marks the first day of presentations and poster sessions at the 2012 American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.

The meeting, which is being held in Atlanta this year, will provide the multiple myeloma community with a veritable deluge of new research about existing myeloma treatments as well as therapies that are still under development.

As was the case with previous ASH annual meetings, The Myeloma Beacon will be covering this year’s meeting in detail.  Beacon readers can expect regular updates as the meeting proceeds, and additional, in-depth articles on specific …

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) will kick off its 54^th annual meeting next Saturday, December 8. This year’s meeting will run through Tuesday, December 11 and will be held in Atlanta.

Similar to past years, over 20,000 people are expected to attend the meeting to listen to experts from around the world discuss current research regarding the biology, diagnosis, treatment, and progression of various blood diseases, including multiple myeloma.

The ASH meeting, along with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Hematology Association (EHA) meetings, are the three …

During the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which will be held December 8 through 11 in Atlanta, results will be presented from clin­i­cal trials involving a number of poten­tial new drugs under devel­op­ment for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma.

In particular, results for newer, lesser known agents that are in the early stages of clin­i­cal devel­op­ment will take center stage. These agents in­clude ARRY-520 (filanesib), BHQ880, circularly permuted TRAIL, daratumumab, dinaciclib, lorvotuzumab mertansine, oprozomib, and tabalumab.

According to the recently …

Dr. Michel Attal from the Purpan Hospital in Toulouse, France, presented a review of current maintenance therapies for multiple myeloma during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting last month.

The focus of Dr. Attal’s presentation was on whether there is evidence to support the use of the novel anti-myeloma agents thalidomide (Thalo­mid), Revlimid (lenalidomide), and Velcade (bortezomib) as mainte­nance therapy after initial therapy and stem cell transplantation.

Maintenance therapy refers to a prolonged, and often low-dose, form of treatment given to myeloma patients after their initial …

Results from a recent German study suggest that a combination of Revlimid, Treanda and prednisone is active and well tolerated in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

Findings from the Phase 1 trial were presented at the 17^th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Amsterdam last month.

A previous Phase 1 study showed that Treanda (bendamustine), in combination with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone (Decadron), is well tolerated and highly active in patients with relapsed or refractory myeloma (see related Beacon news).

Treanda, which already is …

During the second day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago last month, Dr. Amrita Krishnan from the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, gave a presentation on the current status of stem cell transplantation in the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Dr. Krishnan started her presentation by saying that in the United States, multiple myeloma patients make up the largest group of cancer patients undergoing stem cell transplantation.

An autologous (own) stem cell transplant is a procedure in which stem cells are harvested from …