Why the IMWG Summit Is So Important

Submitted by blackswan on Fri, 05/24/2019 - 04:20

The 10th Annual International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) Summit convenes in Amsterdam on June 10-12, 2019. Each year, the Summit hosts the top 100 or so myeloma researchers from around the world to focus on the major questions on the path to better therapies for myeloma and to find a cure. Researchers divide into work groups that develop actions plans for needed research and/or development of guidelines or recommendations. 

Global Myeloma Voices Come Together to Drive Research and Improve Lives of Patients

Submitted by blackswan on Fri, 06/30/2017 - 02:55

Madrid BlogThis past week was very busy and important for the global myeloma community, which is increasingly coming together with a single voice for myeloma research and patient care. In Madrid, Spain, on the eve of the 2017 Congress of the European Hematology Association, the IMF provided platforms for many of these global research voices at the 2017 International Myeloma Working Group® (IMWG) Summit, as well as during the regular research update meeting of the IMF Black Swan Research Initiative® investigators team.

7th Annual International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) Summit a big success

Submitted by blackswan on Thu, 06/30/2016 - 21:17

Synergy at the 7th Annual IMWG Summit was the hallmark of this year’s event in Copenhagen, Denmark. Despite very tight scheduling—many key speakers flew directly from the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago—the level of engagement and collaboration was remarkable. “I feel a strong sense of myeloma community,” observed Prof. Philippe Moreau, an IMWG Summit co-chairman. “The top myeloma investigators in the world all working together to achieve common goals.”

ICER blinks and patients benefit

Submitted by blackswan on Thu, 06/16/2016 - 21:47

The much-awaited ICER (Institute for Clinical and Economic Review) Final Report for myeloma relapse therapies, issued on June 9th, is very tentative and less of a report than an admission that they do not have the expertise to adequately assess the complexities of new myeloma therapies. Functioning under a microscope for the last few months, ICER concedes in a statement at the end of the report that a “Fail First” policy is a mistake for myeloma patients. They have also indicated that they have come to understand that each patient is unique and different and that all therapies will be required during the course of multiple relapses. Also, a system which favors use of panobinostat (an HDAC inhibitor with limited efficacy) over daratumumab (an anti-CD38 antibody with 30% activity as a single agent in relapse refractory disease) is clearly flawed.

New drug data challenge the ways we treat myeloma

Submitted by Dr. Brian GM Durie on Fri, 06/19/2015 - 03:13

At the recent annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the European Hematology Association (EHA), important data were presented on the monoclonal antibodies elotuzumab and daratumumab. The first acts against SLAMF7 and the second against CD38. These new targets on the surface of myeloma cells provide ways to attack myeloma separate from traditional chemotherapy and the immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) or proteasome inhibitor “novel” agents.

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