Each year at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy we hear about dozens of new drugs that are able to annihilate mul­ti­ple myeloma cells in the test tube and in animal models. Unfortunately, at the same meeting, we also sit through pre­sen­ta­tions and walk by posters of drugs that looked hot in the laboratory but then fail to work when given to real patients with myeloma.

This is not new. It has been the story with myeloma for ages. The myeloma cells are smart and are seemingly able to …

Results of a recent study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, indicate that pomalidomide (Pomalyst) may be effective in patients who develop extramedullary disease during treatment with thalidomide, Revlimid, or Velcade.

However, the results also showed these patients had shorter overall survival times than patients who did not develop extramedullary disease during treatment.

The study authors indicated that further studies are required to determine whether novel drugs directly increase the likelihood of developing extramedullary disease.

“We don't know if we are seeing [the development of extramedullary …

Dr. Kenneth Anderson, a world-renowned myeloma spe­cialist, physician and re­searcher at Dana-Farber Cancer In­sti­tute, and Kraft Family Pro­fessor at Harvard Medical School, spoke with The Myeloma Beacon about his ap­proach to treating mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

This article is the sec­ond part of a two-part series based on The Myeloma Beacon’s interview with Dr. Anderson.  It will cover Dr. Anderson’s thoughts on where myeloma treat­ment is headed in the com­ing years.  For more in­­for­ma­tion on Dr. Anderson’s cur­rent ap­proach to treating mul­ti­ple myeloma, please see part one of this series.

Emerging Therapies …

Results of a recent study show that multiple myeloma patients who were initially treated with either thalidomide or Revlimid demonstrated strong responses to treatment with Revlimid and pomalidomide following relapse. In particular, researchers observed the highest response rates in patients who received treatment with pomalidomide.

Dr. Sumit Madan of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, presented the study results at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Orlando last month.

Research has previously shown that thalidomide (Thalomid) and Revlimid (lenalidomide), which belong to the same class of drugs …

This Monday was the third full day of the American Society of Hematology 2010 annual meeting, and it was packed with multiple myeloma-related presentations.  The Beacon published an update earlier today covering presentations made Monday morning.  This article covers material from Monday afternoon and evening.

The first presentation of the afternoon was by Dr. Ruben Niesvizky of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.  He reported on the results of a Phase 3 trial using Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib)-based initial treat­ment (induction) regi­mens com­bined with weekly Velcade main­te­nance ther­apy (abstract).

Patients in this trial were newly …

Pomalidomide has demonstrated efficacy in heavily pre-treated multiple myeloma patients who have been treated with – or are even refractory to – Revlimid and Velcade.

Three studies of the use of pomalidomide (Pomalyst) in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients were presented yesterday at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Orlando.

Pomalidomide, which is being developed by the pharmaceutical company Celgene, is an immunomodulatory agent that induces the immune system to destroy myeloma cells. It belongs to the same class of drugs as Revlimid (lenalidomide) and thalidomide (Thalomid). …

The American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy meeting swung into full gear yesterday. The day was full of invited talks and a poster session.

The morn­ing kicked off with an education session in which attendees could learn about sev­er­al myeloma-related topics.

The first pre­sen­ta­tion was by Dr. Ola Landgren from the National Cancer In­sti­tute and National In­sti­tutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Landgren spoke about mono­clonal gam­mop­athy of undetermined sig­nif­i­cance (MGUS) and smol­der­ing myeloma, precursor dis­eases of mul­ti­ple myeloma.

A study pub­lished by Dr. Landgren last year showed that all mul­ti­ple myeloma patients have …