Results from a small Phase 2 study conducted in Italy demon­strate that se­quen­tial treatment with novel agents and au­tol­o­gous stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion with intermediate-dose melphalan is a safe and ef­fec­tive treat­ment for older, newly diagnosed myeloma patients.

“This is the first study with a sequential approach of Velcade in­duc­tion, autol­o­gous stem cell trans­plan­ta­tion, and Revlimid main­te­nance,” said the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Antonio Palumbo of the University of Torino in Italy.

The regimen was safest in patients under the age 70; patients aged 70 years and older ex­peri­enced more treatment-related side effects …

Label updates could lead to sig­nif­i­cantly im­proved out­comes for patients with multiple myeloma

Beerse, Belgium (Press Release) - Janssen-Cilag Inter­na­tional NV (Janssen) announced today that The Committee for Medical Products for Human Use (CHMP) of The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted a positive opinion on two variations relating to the use of VELCADE®.[1] VELCADE® is indicated for the treat­ment of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

The first recom­men­da­tion is for the use of VELCADE® (bor­tez­o­mib) as retreatment in adult patients who have pre­vi­ously responded to treat­ment with the same medicine.¹ The positive opinion re-enforces the ex­ist­ing data sup­porting the use of VELCADE® in this wider re­lapsed patient …

Physicians and researchers have started gathering for the 18th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), which will take place in Stockholm this year.  The first education and poster sessions of the meet­ing will take place tomorrow, Friday, June 14.  Additional sessions of vari­ous kinds are scheduled for both days of the weekend, until the meet­ing ends early Sunday afternoon (European time).

The research presented at the meeting will cover all areas of hematology, which is the study of blood, blood-forming organs, and blood-related dis­eases, in­clud­ing multiple myeloma.

The EHA meeting is …

Results from a recent European Phase 3 clinical trial indicate that a few months of treatment with Velcade may improve the outcomes of multiple myeloma patients who recently underwent a stem cell transplant.

Specifically, patients who received Velcade (bortezomib) following transplantation, which is known as “consolidation therapy,” had a longer median progression-free survival than those who did not receive additional therapy after transplantation.  Their response to transplantation was also more likely to improve with Velcade consolidation therapy.

However, the researchers found that Velcade consolidation therapy appeared to be mainly effective …

A team of European researchers recently found that advanced age, kidney failure, infections, heart and gastrointestinal complications, and drug discontinuation are associated with poor survival among elderly myeloma patients.

The results are from a combined analysis of data from four major Euro­pean clinical trials.  All the trials involved elderly multiple myeloma patients treated with either conventional anti-myeloma agents or combi­na­tions of conventional and novel agents.

The study also found that intensive anti-myeloma treatment regimens – that is, regimens combining conventional agents with more than one novel agent – may be counterproductive in …

Velcade is my velocipede.

Velocipedes were all the rage in post-Civil War America. Known also as “boneshakers” for the rough physical treatment these early bicycles gave their riders, they proved tricky to master.

Novelist Louisa May Alcott wrote a velocipede into her novel An Old-Fashioned Girl. A character in the novel, Tom, “whizzed by [on his velocipede], arms and legs going like mad, with the general appearance of a runaway engine.”

With no brakes and only primitive steering at his disposal, Tom soon ended up in the gutter, with a “great cut” that …