Congratulations on your very well-deserved appointment to The New Zealand Order of Merit for your services to Haematology! Dr Ken Romeril is a consultant physician/haematologist. Dr Ken Romeril (Ken) founded the charitable trust Myeloma New Zealand, of which he has been CEO since 2016, continuing in this role following retirement from clinical practice. He is the...Continue Reading
As we continue to understand more about the biology of multiple myeloma (MM) and the number of treatment options for patients with MM continues to expand, keeping track of the current standard of care practices and emerging new treatment strategies has become even more challenging. In this commentary, we will summarize our thoughts on how...Continue Reading
The Cancer Control Agency’s analysis of the gap between Australia and New Zealand in funding 18 selected medicines with substantial clinical benefit is a welcome way of drawing attention to the plight of NZ cancer patients desperate for treatments that are funded across the Tasman, but not here, says Myeloma NZ Chief Executive Dr Ken...Continue Reading
After New Year’s Honours for his work, he now fears could die without seeing a single new myeloma-fighting drug added to those funded by Pharmac, the government drug-buying agency he labels as “glacial”. Read more here: Honoured haematologist and HIV pioneer fears he won’t see action from ‘glacial’ Pharmac in his lifetime | Stuff.co.nzContinue Reading
Last Thursday 24 February the ICBCC Policy Strategy Working Group met to discuss on the Policy Strategy to address the specific impact of the pandemic on immunocompromised blood cancer patients (both acute and chronic) in a workshop-style setting. The meeting was facilitated by our partner Patvocates. During the 2 hour workshop the group managed to define...Continue Reading
The primary analysis of the ICARIA-MM study showed significant improvement in progression-free survival with addition of isatuximab to pomalidomide–dexamethasone in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Here, we report a prespecified updated overall survival analysis at 24 months after the primary analysis. Methods In this randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 3 study adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with relapsed...Continue Reading
This article was originally posted by Journal of Experimental Pharmacology Offidani et al. Journal of Experimental Pharmacology 2021:13 245–264 Offidani, Corvatta, Morè & Olivieri Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most frequent hematological malignancy characterized by bone marrow aberrant plasma cells proliferation leading to a genetic complex and heterogeneous disease, with a median survival ranging...Continue Reading
Myeloma Australia’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Group (MSAG) presents the article of the week. On behalf of Myeloma Australia’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Group (MSAG) please find below our article of the week. 3-year follow up of the phase III CASTOR study with independent expert commentary provided by MSAG chair Professor H. Miles Prince AM (Research...Continue Reading
I have recently completed the Alps 2 Ocean (A2O) 315km ride over 6 days which is one of my greatest physical accomplishments in recent times and have been asked to write something about my journey. I will start with myself. Diagnosed with Kappa Light Chain myeloma 8.5 years ago after the T9 on my spinal...Continue Reading
