Author Archives: Marisa Wexler MS

A novel genetic test could help identify people with multiple myeloma who are at highest risk of aggressive disease and unlikely to respond to standard treatment with Revlimid (lenalidomide), a new study shows. The study, “Predicting ultrahigh risk multiple myeloma by molecular profiling: an analysis…

Preventive treatment with the antibiotic levofloxacin can lower the incidence of fever and death in people newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma, results from a Phase 3 clinical trial suggest. The optimal length of time for treatment remains to be determined. Results from the trial were published in The…

Sanofi announced that it partnered with Sebia to develop a new multiple myeloma diagnostic test that will help to mitigate the interference of isatuximab when measuring levels of monoclonal protein — a marker of disease severity — in a person’s blood. Myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells, the…

For people with multiple myeloma who don’t respond well to an initial type of therapy, quickly switching to another type may improve clinical outcomes, a new study suggests. The study, “Response-adapted intensification with cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone versus no intensification in patients with newly diagnosed multiple…

People with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a rarely diagnosed condition that can progress to myeloma, go to the hospital twice as often as people without the condition, new research suggests. This may be helpful in identifying people with MGUS and, by extension, aid in early diagnosis of…

A combination of Kyprolis (carfilzomib), Revlimid (lenalidomide), and dexamethasone, given before and immediately after a stem cell transplant, is effective for the treatment of patients with smoldering multiple myeloma — a precursor condition to multiple myeloma — at high risk of progressing to the full…

Adding the lymphoma therapy vorinostat to Revlimid (lenalidomide) maintenance therapy may deepen responses to stem cell transplants and prolong survival outcomes in multiple myeloma patients, long-term results of a Phase 1 clinical trial show. Results were published in the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation in…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation to the investigational therapy CT053 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The RMAT designation is given to regenerative therapies intended to treat, modify, reverse, or cure a serious…

People with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) placed at low- or intermediate-risk of progression to multiple myeloma can develop that cancer within five years, a study of blood serum immune markers reports. This finding warrants annual blood testing for these people, researchers wrote in the study “…

KappaMab (MDX-1097), a new monoclonal antibody that binds to the kappa myeloma antigen, has a favorable safety profile in multiple myeloma patients with excess kappa light chain, results of a pilot study suggest. The data were published in Blood Cancer Journal in a paper titled, “A preliminary…