Celebrating the 18th Annual Best of ASCO in Beirut
It was such a great pleasure and satisfaction to organize and hold the 18th Annual Best of ASCO (BOA) Lebanon Meeting on July 7-8, 2023, at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in a hybrid format from the Daniel ACC Building Ground Floor Conference Rooms. Speakers and attendees in Lebanon were present...
EMA Panel OKs Two New Drugs for Blood Cancers
The CHMP has recommended conditional marketing authorization for idecabtagene vicleucel for multiple myeloma and tafasitamab for lymphoma. International Approvals
Can a Routine Cancer Scan Flag Depression?
Whole-body imaging used routinely in cases of multiple myeloma could also flag patients with possible depression, say researchers. Maybe one day, says an expert, but not yet. Medscape Medical News
Personalized Cancer Vaccine Shows Early Promise Across Tumor Types
In a phase 1 trial, the vaccine, called PGV-001, was well tolerated. It was given to 13 patients with multiple myeloma who had a high risk of recurrence after surgery or autologous stem cell transplant. Medscape Medical News
Cleveland Clinic’s Beth Faiman Appointed Editor-in-Chief of JADPRO
On August 1, Beth Faiman, PhD, MSN, APRN-BC, AOCN®, FAAN, took the helm as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO).
She succeeds Pamela Hallquist Viale, RN, MS, CNS, ANP, who led the journal as Editor-in-Chief of JADPRO since...
Myeloma Patients Over Age 70 Can Benefit From Auto-HC Transplant
"Age has no implication in terms of the antimyeloma effect of transplant," said one oncologist. Researchers called this largest study of auto-HCT in older adults with multiple myeloma. Medscape Medical News
GSK Builds Oncology Pipeline as Drug Shown to Help Myeloma Patients
GlaxoSmithKline said an experimental multiple myeloma treatment has shown a meaningful response in patients that have run out of three previous treatment options, in a boost for the British drugmaker's cancer drug business. Reuters Health Information
Clinical Trials With Venetoclax on Hold Because of Deaths
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a partial hold on all ongoing clinical trials of venetoclax (Venclexta/Venclyxto, AbbVie) in the treatment of multiple myeloma, owing to an excessive number of deaths in the BELLINI study, according to a press release from the drug's manufacturer.
This does not affect the use of venetoclax...
'Real World' Data on Costs With CAR-T Cell Therapy
The formidable price tag of the new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies has sent shock waves through the blood cancers community, which is struggling to incorporate this novel approach because of the remarkable responses that have been seen.
But the price tags — enormous as they are (nearly half a million for tisagenlecleucel...
Residual Disease May Predict Multiple Myeloma Prognosis
HOUSTON — The absence of minimal residual disease (MRD) at any point of the treatment trajectory of multiple myeloma patients undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (AutoHCT) may indicate favorable progression-free survival (PFS), say US researchers.
The finding comes from the Prognostic Immunophenotyping for Myeloma Response (PRIMeR) study, the first US-based analysis of MRD assessment with...
