Yesterday I re-visited the topic of a new anti-myeloma therapy Mayo Clinic researchers are investigating.

On February 15th I wrote a post about a how a good friend of mine, Mike from Wisconsin, was joining an exciting new clinical trial at Mayo Clinic.

I need to delay my ASH coverage of the trade exhibits until later this week.

Last month I was featured in a Nature Magazine article about multiple myeloma and stem cell transplants:

In yesterday’s article about stem cell transplants for older multiple myeloma patients, I mentioned in passing how Medicare might have an issue with harvesting first and transplanting later.

I had the opportunity to attend my local multiple myeloma support group meeting last evening for the first time since my stem cell transplant.

For those of you who didn’t read my site over the weekend, you have a lot to catch-up on!

Here is a link to a University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) site, featuring testimonials from a pair of myeloma survivors from Florida who are ecstatic about their care at UAMS:

Here are excerpts from a fascinating article from Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News:

The last couple of days, two of my readers have shared their frustrations with the slow pace of myeloma research.

Good evening from the Grand Ballroom at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Florida.  I’m covering the IMF’s ASH kick-off event, Key Myeloma Questions for 2010: Latest Developments int Diagnosis, Prognosis and Risk Assessment in Multiple Myeloma.

Here are several interesting multiple myeloma research studies/articles which have crossed my desk recently:

 I have included studies done by Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Keith Stewart in the past.  Here is a follow-up article, published in Blood, which discusses the history of developing the successful combination of Revlimid, Velcade and dexamethasone (RVD) in treating newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients:

Union of forces advances myeloma care

A. Keith Stewart MAYO CLINIC
In this issue of Blood, Richardson et al report on a landmarktreatment regimen for newly diagnosed myeloma patients thatfor the first time combines lenalidomide and bortezomib. Thiseffort required a team approach comprising 2 competing pharmaceuticalcompanies (joining forces to study this promising regimen) andmultiple academic medical centers.¹
Together, this team conceived of a winning combination chemotherapyregimen using lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (RVD)in newly diagnosed myeloma patients. An unprecedented 100% ofpatients treated at the defined phase 2 dose level respondedto treatment: 74% of patients experienced a 90% reduction intumor burden and 57% entered a complete remission (CR) withina few months of starting treatment. Comparable results havepreviously been reported only after comparatively toxic regimensinvolving intensive rounds of combination chemotherapy and repeateddoses of high-dose melphalan supported by autologous stem celltransplantation.^2,3 It is noteworthy that the RVD regimen oftentook more than 4 cycles of therapy to achieve maximal response,with an upgrade in response occurring in 75% of patients whocontinued therapy up to 8 cycles and in half of the patientstreated for more than 8 cycles.

While attending an International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) Patient and Family Seminar last fall in Minneapolis, I met an impressive, young myeloma doc and researcher on the rise, Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Kieth Stewart.  I felt he had a very reasonable and balanced approach to myeloma therapy.  Here is a research paper the prestigious hematological publication, Blood, just published by Dr. Stewart, about the new therapy approach of combining Velcad with Revlimid in newly diagnosed patients:
Union of forces advances myeloma care

In this issue of Blood, Richardson et al report on a landmark treatment regimen for newly diagnosed myeloma patients that for the first time combines lenalidomide and bortezomib. This effort required a team approach comprising 2 competing pharmaceutical companies (joining forces to study this promising regimen) and multiple academic medical centers.1

I saved the last edition of the International Myeloma Foundation’s (IMF) Myeloma Today on my “get to as soon as possible” pile near my computer.  The full color newsletter, done very professionally in color, on thick, glossy stock, was folded open to an article about Dr. Shaji Kumar’s ongoing study comparing continued initial therapy and delayed transplantation at relapse versus early transplantation. 

The Medical College of Wisconsin published an important press release this week.  The title:  African-Americans and women are less likely to undergo bone marrow transplantation.

Mayo Clinic has come up with a name and treatment map for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients called mSMART. mSMART (Mayo Stratification for Myeloma And Risk-adapted Therapy) is a consensus opinion by 26 of Mayo Clinic’s myeloma specialists, which takes into account genetically determined risk status and the various treatment strategies currently available.

In the following video, Rafael Fonseca, M.D., Director of the Cancer Center at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, provides an overview of the condition Multiple Myeloma along with basic treatment options:  Mayo Clinic podcast about multiple myeloma. 

As part of the continuing series about inspirational multiple myeloma patients, I would like to introduce you to Nick van Dyk from Los Angeles. 

Here is a link to an Asian Website called BioSpecrum about a new research study being started at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  Isn’t the Internet a strange and mysterious instrument?  I have met Dr. Kumar, and I am a Mayo Clinic patient. To think I would learn of this new multiple myeloma study from a press release in Singapore!