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[ by Melissa Cobleigh and | Oct 19, 2011 12:55 pm | 11 Comments ]

Earlier this year, an inter­na­tional group of myeloma experts pub­lished a review of ongoing re­search into new myeloma treat­ments.  This review not only described a wide range of po­ten­tial new myeloma treat­ments, but also in­cluded the experts' thoughts on where re­search into new treat­ments should go in the future.

Given the recent new drug appli­ca­tion for car­filz­o­mib and the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of He­ma­tol­ogy -- which undoubtedly will host dis­cus­sions of many po­ten­tial new myeloma treat­ments -- it seems an appro­pri­ate time to go back to the experts' review from …

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[ by The Myeloma Beacon Staff | May 9, 2011 4:18 pm | One Comment ]

Thursday was the third day of the Inter­na­tional Myeloma Workshop (IMW) in Paris.  There were pre­sen­ta­tions from early morn­ing through the evening.

Some of the highlights from the first part of Day 3 of the conference are summarized in this article.  Highlights from the sec­ond part of the day are summarized in a separate article (see re­lated Beacon news).

Treating Older, Newly Diagnosed Myeloma Patients

The first session of the morn­ing was about treating newly diag­nosed mul­ti­ple myeloma patients over the age of 65 years, spe­cif­i­cally those who are in­eli­gible for …

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Opinion: A Multiple Myeloma Patient’s Viewpoint On Randomized Clinical Trials – In the latest article published in the opinion section of The Myeloma Beacon, Dr. Jim Omel, a physician and multiple myeloma patient, wrote about how the clinical trial process could be changed to encourage greater par­tic­i­pa­tion among myeloma and other cancer patients. To receive a copy of all opinion articles when they are published or if you are interested in contributing an opinion piece, send an email to .

FDA Puts Carfilzomib On Fast Track For Treatment Of Multiple Myeloma – On January 31, Onyx Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fast-track designation for carfilzomib, a second-generation proteasome inhibitor that has shown promising anti-myeloma activity as a single agent and in com­bi­na­tion with Revlimid (lena­lido­mide) and low-dose dexamethasone (Decadron). The fast-track designation accelerates the review and approval process of drugs developed to treat serious or life-threatening illnesses. Onyx can now submit car­filz­o­mib’s New Drug Application to the FDA on a rolling basis. For more in­­for­ma­tion, please see the Onyx Pharmaceuticals press release.

Investigational Drug Siltuximab Enhances Melphalan Efficacy In Multiple Myeloma Cells – Pre-clinical results showed that the mono­clonal anti­body siltuximab (CNTO 328), which is being developed by Centocor Ortho Biotech, enhanced the activity of melphalan (Alkeran). Siltuximab increased mel­phalan’s toxicity to myeloma cells and neutralized interleukin-6, a protein that promotes growth and drug resistance of myeloma cells. Several clinical trials studying siltuximab in myeloma patients are ongoing. For more in­­for­ma­tion, please see the study in the British Journal of Haematology (abstract).

Investigational Drug BI 2536 Is Active Against Multiple Myeloma Cells – Results from a recently published study show that BI 2536, which is being developed by Boehringer Ingelheim, induces cell death in multiple myeloma cells. BI 2536 inhibits an enzyme called polo-like kinase 1, which regulates the cell cycle and has been asso­ci­ated with the devel­op­ment of many cancers.  Additionally, BI 2536 increased the efficacy of Velcade (bor­tez­o­mib) and dexa­meth­a­sone in these cell lines. The study authors concluded that the results suggest BI 2536 should be studied in clinical trials for multiple myeloma. For more in­­for­ma­tion, please see the study in the journal Experimental Hematology (abstract).