This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago ended last Tuesday.

The day before the meeting ended was the busiest day at the meeting with re­gard to myeloma research.  It featured a session of oral pre­sen­ta­tions in the morn­ing and a poster session in the afternoon. In addi­tion, an education ses­sion was held in the afternoon that included one myeloma-related talk, given by Dr. Leif Bergsagel of the Mayo Clinic, about progress in the treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma (article in the ASCO 2014 Edu­ca­tional Book).

This update …

The Beacon is pleased to introduce our newest myeloma thought leader col­um­nist, Dr. Ravi Vij. Every three months, Dr. Vij will share with us a new edition of “The Myeloma Quiz,” which will test your knowledge and under­standing of the myeloma-related research published during the pre­vi­ous several months.

We hope you will join us in welcoming Dr. Vij to the Beacon community, and in thank­ing him for sharing with us his valuable perspectives.

The relentless grind in the battle against myeloma continues. The last several months have seen some major presentations …

The year 2013 is likely to be remembered as a very good year when it comes to re­search related to multiple myeloma.

Previous years have witnessed re­search shedding new light on existing my­e­lo­ma ther­a­pies, as well as addi­tional re­search about poten­tial new ther­a­pies.

But, in the past, most of the im­por­tant new ther­a­pies that were being re­searched were from existing classes of ther­apy, making them less likely to offer dramatic im­prove­ments in the treat­ment of the dis­ease.

In 2013, not only was there more re­search about existing ther­a­pies, and more re­search about …

Pomalyst is now approved in Canada for the treatment of certain patients with multiple myeloma.

Specifically, Health Canada approved Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid) for use in combination with dex­a­meth­a­sone (Decadron) in patients with multiple myeloma for whom both Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Velcade (bor­tezomib) have failed, who have received at least two prior treatment regimens, and who have demon­strat­ed disease progression on their last therapy.

Health Canada approved Pomalyst on January 20, but the approval was first announced this morning.

Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG), the company that developed and markets Pomalyst, expects Pomalyst …

POMALYST Is A New Option For Patients Whose Disease Has Progressed Despite Treatment With Available Therapies

Mississauga, Ontario (Press Release) - Health Canada has approved POMALYST™ oral ther­apy (poma­lido­mide capsules) in com­bi­na­tion with dexa­meth­a­sone, for patients with multiple myeloma for whom both lena­lido­mide and bor­tez­o­mib have failed, who have received at least two prior treat­ment regi­mens and have dem­onstrated dis­ease pro­gres­sion on their last regi­men. Until POMALYST, there have been few options for patients whose dis­ease has progressed despite being treated with traditional ther­a­pies. Treatment with POMALYST has been shown to im­prove rates of over­all survival and extend pro­gres­sion-free survival in patients who no longer respond to lena­lido­mide …

At the 2013 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which took place in December, there were many oral and poster pre­sen­ta­tions about Pomalyst, the newest drug approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

Many of the presentations were about studies of Pomalyst (poma­lido­mide, Imnovid) and dex­a­meth­a­sone (Decadron) in combination with a third drug, such as Velcade (bortezomib), Kyprolis (car­filz­o­mib), cla­rith­ro­my­cin (Biaxin), cyclo­phos­pha­mide (Cytoxan), or Doxil (doxorubicin lipo­somal), for relapsed and refractory myeloma.

Several of …

More than twenty presentations about studies involving Pomalyst were pre­sented at this year’s meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which took place last month.

Several of these presentations were about the Phase 3 clinical trial that found Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid) plus low-dose dex­a­meth­a­sone (Decadron) significantly improved overall survival of relapsed and re­frac­to­ry myeloma pa­tients compared to high-dose dex­a­meth­a­sone alone (see related Beacon news).  This is the study that led to the ap­prov­al of pomalidomide in Europe, where it is marketed under the brand name Imnovid (see …