The results of a number of clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma with Zolinza were presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2010 annual meeting. The trials, ranging from Phase 1 to Phase 3, studied Zolinza in combination with a variety of approved myeloma drugs for the treatment of both early and advanced stages of the disease.

Zolinza (vorinostat) is manufactured by Merck Pharmaceuticals.  It is currently approved for a certain type of lymphoma and is being investigated as a treatment for multiple myeloma (see related Beacon …

Carfilzomib is well tolerated and highly active in both newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients as well as re­lapsed and treat­ment-resistant patients, according to the results of two recent clinical trials that were presented at the American Society of Hematology 2010 annual meeting in Orlando earlier this month.

These results further underscore car­filz­o­mib’s activity in multiple myeloma.  Several studies with promising results were also reported in poster sessions during the annual meeting (see related Beacon news).

Like Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib), carfilzomib (Kyprolis), which is being developed by Onyx Pharmaceuticals, is a …

Patients under age 65 who undergo autologous stem cell transplantation early have significantly higher survival rates than patients who receive continued treatment with Revlimid and dexamethasone, according to a retrospective analysis of a recent clinical trial.

However, Dr. David Siegel, from the Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and lead investigator of the study, pointed out that these results need to be interpreted cautiously, because the patients were not randomly selected to receive either an early or late stem cell transplant.

The results do suggest, however, that early transplantation may be …

The re­­sults of three on­go­ing clin­i­cal trials sug­gest that elotuzumab in com­bi­na­tion with either Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) or Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) plus low-dose dexamethasone (Decadron) is ef­fec­tive and well-tolerated in patients who have re­lapsed or have treat­ment-resistant mul­ti­ple myeloma.

The findings were pre­sented at the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy (ASH) annual meeting in Orlando last week.

Elotuzumab is a new drug being devel­oped by Facet Biotech and Bristol-Myers Squibb as a po­ten­tial treat­ment for mul­ti­ple myeloma. It recog­nizes and binds to unique pro­teins on the surface …

Three studies presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando support the use of Revlimid as maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma patients.

In two studies, Revlimid (lenalidomide) maintenance increased time to disease progression among multiple myeloma patients after stem cell transplantation.

A third study showed the same benefit for older newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients who are not candidates for stem cell transplantation.

Side effects were minor across all three studies. However, the researchers did observe the occurrence of secondary cancers in a small …

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 …

Monday was the third full day of “ASH 2010,” this year’s annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.  This day was the busiest of the entire meeting in terms of multiple myeloma-related material.  Presentations summarizing the latest myeloma research stretched from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

The morning presentations from Monday will be covered in this update, and presentations from the afternoon and evening will be covered in another update later today.

The day featured a large number of presentations and posters about Velcade (bortezomib), examining its use in …