Hi Paul~~ There seem to be many new drugs coming out almost daily, and its almost impossible to determine what will actually be available when we actually face a relapse. For example I recently read about the following:Salinosporamide A (NPI-0052), Carfilzomib (PR-171), Tanespimycin (KOS-953), and Retaspimycin (IPI-504). These are just a few of the drugs that are in the pipeline at the moment but who knows when they will be available? I read about Pomalidomide ages ago, but have only heard in the past week that it won't be available in the US until Christmas, which probably means that we won't see it in Australia for about 12 months, -- so what do I look at using in the meantime? Of course, there is also the question of cost -- what price life? I feel that the best course is trying to get onto a Clinical Trial, for at least the medication will be free for as long as you keep using it -- providing of course that it works and that they are not using really high doses which might cause side effects!!
Like you, I tend to scan the Myeloma blogs daily as well as several medical journals just to keep up with the latest -- but sometimes this can be very frustrating -- hearing about what might one day be available but not being able to access it. Still, its reassuring to know the types of research that are being done and the way in which medical science is going to try to cure or at least change MM from being terminal to being a chronic disease! Cheers, Cath