Inês Martins, PhD, managing science editor —

Doctors told Don Wright he had five years to live when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2003. Instead of resigning himself to this fate, Wright began running marathons. Last November, at age 75, he reached his goal of running 100 marathons with cancer. Now he’s trying to qualify for…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) seeking to expand the currently approved indication of Xgeva (denosumab) to include patients with multiple myeloma, the biotechnology company Amgen announced. Xgeva is indicated for the prevention of fractures, spinal cord compression, or…

The U.S. Federal Drug Administration has approved a combination of the immunotherapies Darzalex (daratumumab), Pomalyst (pomalidomide) and dexamethasone as a multiple myeloma treatment, according to Darzalex’s developer, Janssen Biotech. The combo offers a new option for patients who fail to respond to two lines of therapy that include Revlimib (lenalidomide) and…

Massachusetts–based Karyopharm Therapeutics announced that the first patient was dosed in its pivotal BOSTON Phase 3 clinical trial designed to evaluate selinexor (KPT-330) in combination with Velcade (bortezomib) and dexamethasone for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

John Theurer Cancer Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital have announced the completion of the 100th blood stem cell transplant since its joint Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Program treated the first patient in September 2013. The 100th patient, a woman from Arlington, Virginia, received blood stem cell transplant…

Caris Life Sciences is collaborating with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to identify patients eligible to participate in the Phase 2 NCI-MATCH (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) study, the largest precision medicine trial to date. Caris will also evaluate next-generation sequencing results for certain trial participants. The NCI-MATCH trial (NCT02465060) was designed to evaluate…

The first research program dedicated to the early detection and prevention of multiple myeloma will  be under way soon, thanks to a $4 million Perelman Family Foundation donation to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. The Perelman Family Foundation Early Disease Translational Research Program will be established as part of the myeloma…

Patients with certain kinds of relapsed or refractory multiple myelomas can enroll in a clinical trial assessing a combination of NY-ESO SPEAR T-cells and Keytruda (pembrolizumab), according to the T-cell treatment’s developer, Adaptimmune Therapeutics. To qualify for the study, patients’ tumor cells must express the NY-ESO or LAGE-1 proteins, or both. Expression is…

Patients with advanced multiple myeloma who received three or more lines of therapy have shown promising safety and efficacy results in a Phase 1 trial assessing bluebird bio’s new CAR T-cell therapy bb2121. New data, to be presented at…

The non-profit cancer-therapy consulting group Patient Power is hailing a District of Columbia law that established patient co-pay ceilings on specialty medications for diseases like multiple myeloma. Co-pays are a common feature of American health insurance plans. The term refers to a patient paying part of the cost of prescriptions or healthcare…