Researchers at the VU University Medical Center in the Netherlands have tested a new drug in patient samples and mice with multiple myeloma and discovered that it was effective even in advanced disease – a point when many patients currently run out of options. These promising results could pave the way for the new drug...Continue Reading
Myeloma Australia’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Group (MSAG) presents the article of the week. The article from Australia’s National Centre for Infections in Cancer (NCIC, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) includes MSAG members Prof Jeff Szer and A/Prof Peter Mollee as co-authors. Along with this guide for health care professionals please find attached the guide for patients, produced by...Continue Reading
COVID-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019, is an infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is a newly identified pathogen that has not previously been seen in humans and is highly contagious. Though it belongs to the same category of viruses as SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and influenza viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is a...Continue Reading
A Kiwi diagnosed with cancer has shared advice on how to self-isolate while living with others and what precautions immunocompromised people should take. The Government has announced that people travelling into New Zealand, except from the Pacific Islands, have to self-isolate for 14 days. This has sparked many questions on how self-isolation works and how...Continue Reading
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands and SAN DIEGO, March 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — SkylineDx shares research showing that multiple myeloma (blood cancer) patients with a high risk or aggressive course of the disease are unlikely to benefit from current treatment approaches, including lenalidomide mono-therapy for maintenance when compared to observation only. The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London (UK), derived these results from the...Continue Reading
With rising community concern about the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, Myeloma Australia would like to provide the following information sheet detailing risks and preventative measures specific to the myeloma population. The coronavirus family are known to cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). COVID-19 is the name that has been...Continue Reading
A new CAR T-cell therapy for people with multiple myeloma has been successfully created and tested in cell-based experiments and a mouse model, a study reported. This therapy targets a protein called CD229, produced on the surface of both myeloma cells and cancer stem cells — the source of treatment-resistant cells that may lead to disease recurrence — potentially...Continue Reading
Immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL amyloidosis) involves deposition of abnormally folded light chains into a wide range of tissues causing organ dysfunction, including in the heart and kidney. Daratumumab, a CD38-targeted antibody, has recently demonstrated efficacy in producing hematologic responses in previously treated disease. However, data on survival outcomes and organ responses to daratumumab are...Continue Reading
Sanofi announced that it partnered with Sebia to develop a new multiple myeloma diagnostic test that will help to mitigate the interference of isatuximab when measuring levels of monoclonal protein — a marker of disease severity — in a person’s blood. Myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells, the type of cell responsible for making...Continue Reading
In patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) who are ineligible for high-dose chemotherapy and transplantation, adding daratumumab to bortezomib, melphalan, and prednisone (VMP) halved the risk of disease progression or death, compared with VMP alone, according to updated results from the phase III ALCYONE trial. The findings, which were published in The Lancet, also point...Continue Reading
