The main mul­ti­ple myeloma-related poster session at this year's Amer­i­can Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago took place last Monday. Several of the posters pre­sented during that session focused on poten­tial new mul­ti­ple myeloma ther­a­pies. Those posters were reviewed in the Beacon's previous ASCO mul­ti­ple myeloma up­date.

In this, the Beacon's final ASCO 2016 up­date, the attention shifts to posters from the Monday session that were re­lated to existing myeloma ther­a­pies, as well as a pair of posters re­lated to smol­der­ing mul­ti­ple myeloma.

The posters about existing ther­a­pies …

A team of European researchers has pub­lished results of a major clinical trial investi­gat­ing the efficacy and safety of Pomalyst (poma­lido­mide, Imnovid) and dexa­metha­sone in multiple myeloma patients who have had many prior ther­apies.

Results of the trial, known as the STRATUS (MM-010) study, have pre­vi­ously been presented at several major medical meetings. This is the first time, how­ever, that the results have been summarized in a journal article.

The new efficacy and safety results are in line with previously published results of other trials testing the combination of Pomalyst …

Good morning, myeloma world.

Since the last edition of Myeloma Morning, abstracts for two im­por­tant upcoming medical meetings have been made public: the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, which will take place June 3 through June 7 in Chicago, and the European Hematology Association (EHA) annual congress, which is scheduled for June 9 through June 12 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The publication of the abstracts and the meetings themselves mean that there is going to be a lot of multiple myeloma-related news in the coming weeks. We will do our …

Hello again, myeloma world.

As we continue catching up after the recent onslaught of new myeloma-related research, we're pleased to report that it's a sunny spring day outside. More importantly, our top story today reflects Mother Nature's pleasant disposition.

In particular, there is updated data about multiple myeloma survival in the United States, and it's good news.

It's just an annual update – a single new value for survival five-years from the time of diagnosis. And it's for patients diagnosed all the way back in 2008 – the most recent year for …

Good morning, myeloma world.

It's a glorious spring morning here at Myeloma Morning Headquarters. The sun is coming up in the midst of a clear blue sky, and the cherry tree out front is bursting with blossoms.

In other words, it's a great day to get excited about new multiple myeloma research and other myeloma-related developments.

First, we take a look at a new study by researchers at the John Theurer Cancer Center (JTCC) in New Jersey. They examine whether Pomalyst (pomalidomide, Imnovid) can be used safely in relapsed myeloma patients with …

Results featured at the 57th Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting and Exposition:

• 72 per­cent of re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients treated with dara­tu­mu­mab com­bi­na­tion ther­apy did not progress or relapse after 18 months of treat­ment (GEN 503)
• Daratumumab in com­bi­na­tion with poma­lido­mide and dexa­meth­a­sone produced rapid, deep and durable responses in re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients who had received at least two (median of 3.5) prior lines of ther­apy, in­­clud­ing two or more consecutive cycles of lena­lido­mide and bor­tez­o­mib, and were refractory to their last line of treat­ment (MMY1001 Phase1b)
• Single-agent dara­tu­mu­mab dem­onstrated a median over­all survival of 20 months in heavily pre-treated re­lapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients who have exhausted other approved treat­ment options. A partial response or better was achieved by 31 per­cent of patients, and 83 per­cent achieved stable disease or better (GEN 501 & MMY2002)

Beerse, Belgium (Press Release) – Janssen-Cilag Inter­na­tional NV announced new data from the ongoing Phase 1/2 GEN503 inves­ti­ga­tional study showing the human CD38-directed mono­clonal anti­body dara­tumumab, in com­bi­na­tion with lena­lido­mide and dexa­meth­a­sone, yielded an over­all response rate (ORR) of 81 per­cent in re­lapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients who had received a median of two prior ther­a­pies. After 18 months of treat­ment, investigators observed an over­all survival (OS) rate of 90 per­cent, with 72 per­cent …

Summit, NJ (Press Release) – Celgene Corpo­ra­tion (NASDAQ:CELG) today announced it has fulfilled the accelerated approval require­ments for POMALYST® (poma­lido­mide) based on results from MM-003, an inter­na­tional phase III study of POMALYST plus low-dose dex­a­meth­a­sone versus high-dose dex­a­meth­a­sone in re­lapsed / refractory multiple myeloma patients. POMALYST, in com­bi­na­tion with dex­a­meth­a­sone is ap­proved for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior ther­a­pies in­­clud­ing lena­lido­mide and a pro­te­a­some inhibitor and have dem­onstrated disease pro­gres­sion on or within 60 days of com­ple­tion of the last ther­apy.

"There remains a sig­nif­i­cant unmet need …