Today was an exciting day for me! The pleasure of being invited to the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) breakfast and hearing Dr. Durie’s Highlights of his American Society of Hematology (ASH) presentation added to the excitement. I was impressed by the congeniality of these men and women as several others shared highlights of their […]
Day 3 at ASH 2015
Today was the final full day of ASH, and I attended oral presentations this morning beginning at 7 a.m. With all the excitement about recent multiple myeloma drug approvals last month, I wondered what might be next. The answer might be a drug called Pembrolizumab (Pembro), an anti PD-1 antibody that is also referred to […]
Getting Closer to CURE . . . Minimal Residual Disease (MRD)
Myeloma treatment has changed dramatically since my diagnosis 18 years ago. Prior to 2000, complete response (CR) used to be defined as a 75% reduction in M-protein, and stringent complete response (sCR) was a non-issue because it just didn’t happen. Now, however, therapies often take us beyond sCR to amazingly low levels of only one […]
New Approvals – Now What?
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) Conference and Exhibition is filled with much excitement and buzz about the approval of two monoclonal antibodies Darzalex (daratumumab)and Empliciti (elotuzumab). Monoclonal antibodies are a class of drugs that we’ve all been eagerly awaiting – the Exhibit Hall is splashed with large images of “Now Approved,” and “It’s here.” […]
Last Few Hours at ASH
There are only a few abstracts left to attend, and every one we listened to were excellent. Yesterday, the focus of our attendance was on advances in myeloma. Because I have an interest in educating myself about smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), I was eager to hear the latest studies on this subject. Dr. Rajkumar’s presentation, […]
Rise & Shine!
Rise and Shine Everyone! We begin each day with smiles on our faces and comfortable shoes on our feet as we head out to the Orange County Convention Center for another day at ASH. International Myeloma Foundation Support Group Leaders heading to ASH early morning December 6th Today, we went right from the early […]