Italian researchers recently found that most myeloma patients are able to collect sufficient stem cells after a short course of induction therapy with Revlimid, allowing them to undergo two consecutive stem cell transplants.

“Revlimid can be used safely before stem cell mobilization, provided that we use only four courses before mobilization and cyclophosphamide is used to mobilize,” said Dr. Antonio Palumbo, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Torino in Italy.

The current standard treatment for younger patients with newly diagnosed myeloma includes induction therapy with at …

As the myeloma community continues to investigate whether stem cell transplantation or novel agents is the best way to treat newly diagnosed myeloma patients, recent results from a Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that stem cell transplantation may lead to longer disease-free survival.

The results from this study show that more multiple myeloma patients who received a stem cell transplant were alive and disease-free after 24 months compared to patients treated with Revlimid in combination with conventional chemotherapy.

The transplanted patients, however, also experienced more severe side effects compared to non-transplanted patients. …

Results of a Phase 2 clin­i­cal trial show that elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and low-dose dexa­meth­a­sone is safe and ef­fec­tive in re­lapsed / refractory mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

“Elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid and low-dose dexa­meth­a­sone has a very high re­sponse rate,” said Dr. Philippe Moreau from the Uni­ver­sity Hospital in Nantes, France, when he pre­sented the findings at the 47^th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on Sunday.

“[The com­bi­na­tion] seems to be superior to Revlimid plus high-dose dexa­meth­a­sone,” he added.

In a summary talk about po­ten­tial new …

Monday was the fourth day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO 2011) annual meeting in Chicago.  Although the meeting concluded yes­ter­day, Monday was the last day of the meeting that con­tained any myeloma-relevant ma­teri­al.

The morn­ing started with a session recapping highlights of the meeting from Sunday.  Dr. Ivan Borello from the Johns Hopkins Uni­ver­sity School of Medicine was invited to give a 15-minute pre­sen­ta­tion recapping the myeloma highlights (see Part 1 and Part 2 of The Beacon’s Day Three up­date for more in­­for­ma­tion).

The rest of the …

Three myeloma experts yesterday presented additional clinical trial data on the possible link between Revlimid and secondary cancer in multiple myeloma patients.  All three experts concluded that Revlimid’s benefit as a myeloma treatment outweighs its risks.

The presentations were made at a session of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago.

In a summary talk reviewing the three presentations, Dr. Ola Landgren from the U.S. National Cancer Institute noted that the risk of developing a secondary cancer following Revlimid (lenalidomide) therapy was significantly lower than a myeloma …

Yesterday was the third day of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2011 annual meeting in Chicago, and it was especially packed with pre­sen­ta­tions re­lated to mul­ti­ple myeloma.

There was a morn­ing session where a total of eight re­search abstracts were pre­sented and discussed.  Then, late in the afternoon, there was an education session focused on mul­ti­ple myeloma, with sev­er­al dif­fer­en­t pre­sen­ta­tions.

The pre­sen­ta­tions during the morn­ing session were on three dif­fer­en­t topics: Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) and its po­ten­tial link to sec­ond­ary cancer; myeloma bone dis­ease; and new drugs being devel­oped as po­ten­tial …

Results of a recent German study show that the chromosomal abnormalities del(17p13) and +1q21 may reduce overall survival in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients receiving Revlimid-dexamethasone compared to patients without these abnormalities.

The results also indicate that patients with t(14;16) receiving Revlimid-dexamethasone have a shorter time to disease progression than patients without this abnormality. In addition, patients with del(13q14) in combination with certain other chromosomal abnormalities may have decreased response rates and a shorter time to disease progression.

The study authors, however, recommended additional evaluation of these chromosomal abnormalities in larger patient populations, …