A Myeloma UK funded study has found that myeloma patients regard the impact of symptoms on activity, emotional status and support factors to be the most important issues relating to their quality of life (QOL), highlighting the need to improve existing QOL assessment tools where the emphasis is on symptom status. The study, led by Dr…
DetailsA study has identified a previously unknown but crucial component of platelet production that could help prevent Velcade-induced thrombocytopenia in myeloma patients. The researchers found that proteasome inhibition blocked proplatelet formation in megakaryocytes via upregulation and hyperactivation of the small GTPase, RhoA. Inhibition of the RhoA pathway with fasudil, a drug used to treat cerebral…
DetailsBinding Site, the UK clinical diagnostic company, has announced that it will be collaborating with the US-based International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) on its Black Swan Research Initiative. Binding Site’s Freelite® and Hevylite® tests, two unique blood tests for measuring serum free light chains and intact monoclonal heavy chains respectively, will form part of the toolkit…
DetailsGenmab, the Danish biotechnology company, has announced that it’s partner Janssen Biotech Inc. will be starting a new Phase III trial of daratumumab as a frontline treatment for myeloma patients who are not eligible for high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation. Daratumumab is an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody with promising anti-myeloma activity that is currently being…
DetailsThe Eurocare-5 study, a population-based registry study of cancer survival across Europe, has found significant improvements in the five-year survival rates for haematological malignancies between 1997 and 2008. The results, published online in the Lancet Oncology, showed for example that amongst myeloma patients the five-year survival rate increased from 29.8% to 39.6%. These gains coincided with the introduction…
DetailsThe Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has issued guidance not to recommend Imnovid (pomalidomide) in combination with low-dose dexamethasone for use in relapsed and refractory myeloma patients who have received prior treatment with Velcade® and Revlimid® and have demonstrated disease progression on their last treatment. Although the SMC acknowledged that pomalidomide was clinically significant in this patient group,…
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