In my last column, I described how a couple of incidents, one on the subway and one at work, during the first few months of steroid and Revlimid (lenalidomide) treatment had given me hints that more than physical effects were going to be involved in my multiple myeloma treatments.

After five months on chemotherapy, it seemed that, while my medicines were apparently going to control the myeloma – I was approaching “very good partial response” – I could tell that the chemotherapy was having profound effects on me emotionally.

Continuing …

The results of a recent French analysis indicate that the cancer drug Treanda, in combination with prednisone or dexamethasone, may be effective in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma patients.

Based on their findings, the French researchers recommended that Treanda (bendamustine) be considered as a treatment option for patients with advanced multiple myeloma.

Treanda is an alkylating agent, which causes cancer cell death by damaging the cancer cells’ DNA.  The drug, which was originally developed in East Germany in the 1960s, is currently approved by the FDA to treat certain types of leukemia …

Results of a recent Phase 2 study indicate that a steroid-free regimen of Velcade, Doxil, and thalidomide is effective in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

“The most novel aspect [of the study] is that high response rates and effective disease control can be achieved without the use of [the corticosteroid] dexamethasone,” said Dr. Asher Chanan-Khan, one of the study’s investigators and a researcher at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

“The development of such a regimen is critical as it can be used both in newly diagnosed or relapsed …

Results of a recently published study show that a steroid-free regimen of Velcade and thalidomide is effective in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

This finding is particularly significant for patients who are unable to tolerate treatment with steroids due to their side effects, according to the study’s lead author Dr. Ivan Borello from the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore,

“The purpose of this study was to develop a therapy that could be used for patients in whom steroids for one reason or another were contraindicated.  Those would include …