The MMRF was truly honored and privileged to count Pat Williams among our closest friends and champions. The outpouring of love in honor of Pat’s life of service is genuine and deserved. His passion and vision for basketball was pioneering and his legacy lives on. He displayed a similar level of commitment and compassion to supporting and inspiring countless cancer patients and their loved ones. Pat was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2011 and served on the MMRF’s Board of Directors for several years. We are forever grateful for his service. He will be missed.
To learn more about Pat’s life and legacy, please see this article from US News & World Report: https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2024-07-18/magic-co-founder-pat-williams-who-helped-bring-team-to-orlando-dies-at-84
After a couple of years as the chief operating officer of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), Southport’s Andreini was named president and CEO in 2021, leading the prominent cancer research organization in its mission of accelerating the quest to find a cure for all patients with the rare blood cancer…
Initially, we used my husband’s diagnosis to show our support as we navigated this journey and joined a new “club” we really didn’t want to be a part of.
“JP Strong” is a phrase my children and I coined after my husband, JP, received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma in 2014. Initially, we used it to show our support as we navigated this journey and joined a new “club” we really didn’t want to be a part of.
JP got his diagnosis in April of that year and, immediately, he wanted to get involved in figuring out how to best manage his disease while remaining optimistic. A friend told him about the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) and an upcoming 5K run in a neighboring town. We registered and set our fundraising goal and within a few days, he’d tripled his goal. Our friends and family all came out that day to support JP and it was an incredibly positive yet emotional experience. It gave him the boost he needed to know that with his positive mindset, paired with the efforts of the MMRF, he could do this.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to teclistamab (Tecvayli, Janssen Biotech, Inc.) for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after at least four prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.
The data created by the CoMMpass longitudinal genomic profiling study (NCT01454297) was employed in several significant clinical trials presented at the 19th International Myeloma Society (IMS) annual meeting, according to a press release from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF).
The CoMMpass, or Clinical Outcomes in Multiple Myeloma Personal Assessment of Genetic Profiles trial, which collected data from an estimated 1150 patients worldwide, provided data that were cited in 19 abstracts at IMS, including 4 oral presentations. It was also announced that the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium presented results from the MyDRUG clinical trial (NCT03732703) that investigated targeted therapies with precision medicine in patients with multiple myeloma.
“Treatment of relapsed multiple myeloma can be extremely difficult despite the tremendous progress we have made,” said Hearn Jay Cho, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of the MMRF. “Uncovering new targets and therapies that act upon them may be helpful in the future for patients who develop resistance to current treatment such as CD38-targeting monoclonal antibodies….”
Grace Allison, B.S.N., RN, OCN, RN-BC, one of the patient navigators at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), humbly says she’s honored to help her incredible, inspiring patients along their journey fighting the incurable blood cancer.
As anyone who has sat at the bedside of a terminally ill patient knows, those who hold out a hand — literally or figuratively — to help a patient and their loved ones is a hero to them. Grace is one of these heroes to all of her patients as they battle against the complex cancer.
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) has announced the appointment of George Mulligan as its Chief Scientific Officer, where he will lead the development, execution, and communication of the organization’s overall research strategy to drive clinically meaningful scientific advances for myeloma patients. Mulligan brings…
MMRF Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Hearn Cho joins Dr. P to highlight the importance of raising awareness about the impact of multiple myeloma on African American communities. This informative discussion is a must listen to for every Black family.
While advances have been made in the treatment of the rare blood cancer multiple myeloma, fundamental questions about how to optimize therapies for individual patients remain. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation launched CureCloud, an initiative to gather detailed genomic and health data from thousands of patients to both bring a precision medicine approach to the treatment of multiple myeloma and fuel the development of new breakthroughs. We spoke to Michael Andreini, president and CEO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, about the CureCloud initiative, the patient data it is gathering, and the potential to transform the treatment of multiple myeloma with precision medicine.
Rarecast is a Global Genes podcast hosted by award-winning journalist Daniel Levine. It focuses on the intersection of rare disease with business, science, and policy.
