Myeloma News and Research

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Cytopia announces novel anti-cancer drug development collaboration

Cytopia Limited today announced that it has entered into an anti-cancer drug discovery and development collaboration with Cancer Therapeutics CRC Pty Ltd. This agreement leverages Cytopia's early stage drug discovery pipeline of kinase inhibitors, a class of targeted therapeutics that is one of the fastest growing segments of the cancer drug market.

9 May 2008

Role of genetic components of dendritic cells could lead to more effective drugs

For the first time, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified genetic components of dendritic cells that are key to asthma and allergy-related immune response malfunction. Targeting these elements could result in more effective drugs to treat allergic disorders and asthma, according to a study reported in the May edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

7 May 2008

Researchers study Rituximab's action on cancer stem cells

Preliminary data from one of the first clinical trials to test a stem cell-targeting drug in cancer patients shows that while the drug did not prolong survival, its suppressing effect on patients' stem cells was impressive enough to send investigators looking for a better drug to try.

13 Apr 2008

FDA approves TREANDA (bendamustine hydrochloride) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Cephalon, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved TREANDA (bendamustine hydrochloride) for Injection for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a slowly progressing blood and bone marrow disease, on March 20, 2008.

7 Apr 2008

Proteolix's Carfilzomib granted orphan drug designation

Proteolix, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to carfilzomib, a selective blocker of proteasome activity for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

3 Apr 2008

Thalidomide shows promise for treatment of recurrent ovarian cancer

Thalidomide, a drug blamed in the 1950s for causing birth defects, is now showing promise as a safe and effective treatment for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, according to a study led by a University of Minnesota Cancer Center researcher.

28 Feb 2008

New cancer center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center has created an expanded cancer program dedicated to advancing research, prevention and treatment of the disease. The new Cancer Center is led by renowned cancer physician-scientist Dr. Andrew Dannenberg.

5 Feb 2008

Building stronger bones, one stem cell at a time

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are bone marrow-derived cells that are capable of giving rise to various cell types through a process known as differentiation.

25 Jan 2008

Experimental procedure induces tolerance to mismatched kidney transplants

Four of five patients participating in a trial of an experimental protocol designed to induce immune tolerance to HLA-mismatched kidney transplants have been able to discontinue immunosuppressive drugs.

24 Jan 2008

Stem cells make bone marrow cancer resistant to treatment

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say they have evidence that cancer stem cells for multiple myeloma share many properties with normal stem cells and have multiple ways of resisting chemotherapy and other treatments.

15 Jan 2008

Salinispora tropica marine bacterium points to new ways to treat human diseases

An unexpected discovery in marine biomedical laboratories at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has led to new, key information about the fundamental biological processes inside a marine organism that creates a natural product currently being tested to treat cancer in humans.

7 Jan 2008

Novel anti-tumor compound

Researchers at Emory University have developed a novel anti-tumor compound that represents a distinct strategy: targeting one of the most important "intercept points" for cancer cells.

4 Jan 2008

Bisphosphonates appear to reduce the risk of jaw degradation

Athanasios Zavras began receiving messages from distraught patients in 2005 after case reports linked oral osteoporosis meds to bone death in the jaw.

3 Jan 2008

New treatment option offers hope to multiple myeloma patients

Patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an often deadly bone marrow cancer, rarely live more than three years after diagnosis if treated with conventional chemotherapy or even some of the newer drug therapies.

20 Dec 2007

Velcade, lenalidomide and dexamethasone combo show promise for multiple myeloma

A new combination of bortezomib (Velcade) and two other drugs is showing a very high response rate in patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a team headed by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

13 Dec 2007

Patients without advance care plans more likely to die

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found only half of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation had advance care plans - documents such as living wills, power of attorney for health care, or life-support instructions - and those without plans were three times more likely to die during or after surgery.

10 Dec 2007

New therapeutic options for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients

Mayo Clinic researchers presented results of a phase II trial of myeloma induction therapy -- a first step therapy designed to reduce cancer cells numbers -- with cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (Cybor-D) showing an improved response over the traditional lenalidomide-dexamethasone (L-Dex) therapy.

10 Dec 2007

Study results from Zolinza (vorinostat) in combination with bortezomib for multiple myeloma trial

Results from two investigational Phase I trials of ZOLINZA (vorinostat) in combination with bortezomib provide preliminary anti-tumor activity in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.

10 Dec 2007

Multiple myeloma clinical trial shows distinct survival benefit with lower dose of steroids

Results of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Phase III clinical trial E4A03, for multiple myeloma, showing significantly better overall survival with lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone therapy compared to lenalidomide plus high-dose dexamethasone, were reported today by S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D. at the American Society of Hematology's annual meeting.

10 Dec 2007

Scientists develop optical device that allows them to peer through the eyes of a mouse and monitor cells passing in bloodstream

A team of researchers from the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have developed an optical device that allows them to peer through the eyes of a mouse and monitor the cells passing through its bloodstream.

4 Dec 2007