Takeda Oncology yesterday announced posi­tive results from a key trial testing the in­ves­ti­ga­tional drug ixazomib in re­lapsed multiple myeloma patients.

Participants in the large Phase 3 ixazomib trial, known as the TOUR­MA­LINE MM-1 study, received one of two possible treat­ment regi­mens. One group was treated with ixazomib, Revlimid (lena­lido­mide), and dexa­metha­sone (Decadron), while the other group received a placebo (sugar pill), Revlimid, and dexa­metha­sone.

Investigators conducting the trial recently carried out the first planned interim analysis of the study results. Their analysis, Takeda reported yesterday, found …

Cambridge, MA and Osaka, Japan (Press Release) – Takeda Pharma­ceu­tical Company Limited (TSE:4502) today announced that the ran­dom­ized, double-blind, placebo-controlled TOURMALINE-MM1 pivotal Phase 3 trial eval­u­ating the safety and efficacy of ixazomib, the first oral pro­te­a­some inhibitor, conducted in patients with re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) achieved its pri­mary end­point of im­prov­ing pro­gres­sion-free survival at the first pre-specified interim analysis. In the trial, patients treated with inves­ti­ga­tional ixazomib plus lena­lido­mide and dexa­meth­a­sone lived without their disease worsening for a sig­nif­i­cantly longer time compared to patients who received placebo plus lena­lido­mide/dexamethasone.

Efficacy …

A new year is upon us.  I hope it has started well for everybody, and that all had a great holiday season!

The last few weeks of 2014 were a hap­pen­ing time for the mul­ti­ple myeloma com­munity. The short span of time witnessed the pub­li­ca­tion of up­dated criteria for the diag­nosis of mul­ti­ple myeloma from the Inter­na­tional Myeloma Work­ing Group (IMWG). In addi­tion, the 56^th annual meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) took place in San Francisco, with literally hundreds of myeloma-related oral and poster pre­sen­ta­tions.

Therefore, it is again …

This past Sunday was the second day of the American Society of Hema­tology’s (ASH) annual meeting, which was held in San Francisco.

As on the first day of the meeting, myeloma-related pre­sen­ta­tions once again took place during several sessions through­out the day.

A myeloma-related education session held the first day of the conference was repeated once again on Sunday morning.

While the education session was being held, a separate “scientific sym­po­sium” with two oral pre­sen­ta­tions took place in parallel.  The session focused on a novel immuno­therapeutic ap­proach to treating cancer known as …

– 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) …

The 2014 annual meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) starts tomorrow, De­cem­ber 5, in San Francisco, and will con­tinue until next Tuesday.

The ASH annual meeting is one of sev­er­al large med­i­cal conferences where myeloma-related re­search findings are pre­sented each year.  However, from a mul­ti­ple myeloma perspective, the ASH meeting is generally the most im­por­tant of the meetings.

At this year’s meeting, for example, some 500 myeloma-presentations are scheduled to take place.  The pre­sen­ta­tions will summarize cur­rent re­search on a wide range of topics, in­clud­ing the biology of the dis­ease …

Monday was the third day of this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).  The day was filled with oral presentation sessions from early in the morning until into the evening.

In the afternoon and early evening, there were six oral presentation sessions devoted solely to multiple myeloma and a number of other myeloma-related presentations scattered about the afternoon.  The topics of these presentations ranged from the biology of myeloma to treat­ment options for newly diag­nosed, re­lapsed and refractory, and older patients.

This ASH update highlights most of the oral …