What Happens at the American Society of Hematology Needs to be Shared with Everyone!

Martine Elias, Executive Director

Every year during the first week of December, I attend the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the most comprehensive blood cancer conference. Why? Because the meeting is an invaluable educational experience and provides the opportunity to learn about research updates from many international myeloma scientists. It is a once-a-year opportunity to network with top minds in the field and a global community of more than 25,000 hematology professionals from every subspeciality.

It’s a grueling conference. Each day starts at 7 AM and doesn’t end before 7 PM or later. This year, I attended back-to-back scientific presentations and learned about the progress in myeloma treatments ( see the article from Gabriele Colasurdo, Manager of Education and Patient Services ). In between sessions, I was busy meeting with other myeloma patient organization representatives from around the globe, Canadian oncologist experts in myeloma and representatives from pharmaceutical companies from around the world to persuade them of the importance of bringing cutting-edge clinical trials to Canada, including novel myeloma treatments like the Bi-specific T-cell engagers (BiTEs), a form of cancer immunotherapy and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy (CAR-T).

Aldo Del Col Co-founder of Myeloma Canada, Greg Friberg MD, Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Hematology / Oncology Global Development, Amgen and Martine Elias, Executive Director of Myeloma Canada

The highlight for me this year, was the numerous presentations on new CAR-T therapies for myeloma patients, which means that the science is staying ahead of the disease. Celgene’s anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy is showing promising results with manageable side effects . Chinese researchers are also involved in CAR-T clinical development for myeloma patients and gave presentations on at least three studies involving CAR-T therapies showing similar positive results. Given the growing interest in CAR-T cell therapy, Myeloma Canada has developed a brief position statement on this novel therapy.

Another highlight of this year’s conference was meeting Dr Robert A. Kyle from the Mayo Clinic. He is a pioneer in myeloma care who began his research in the 50s. His contributions over the years have resulted in significant advances in research, as well as treatment and care of myeloma patients. Now in his 90s, he continues to work and advise young doctors about the importance of myeloma research and treatments. In my opinion, Dr Kyle is a rockstar in the world of myeloma, although a very humble one. He was very gracious when we met, and praised Myeloma Canada and our Co-founder Aldo Del Col, for our vision and accomplishments within the community.

Dr. Robert A. Kyle, Mayo Clinic, MN, USA and Martine Elias Executive Director of Myeloma Canada

Martine Elias Executive Director

Find out more about Myeloma Canada’s Perspective on Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Therapy (CAR-T) here .

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌