Commenting on the 5-year follow-up data of VISTA presented at the 2011 ASH meeting, Kenneth C. Anderson, MD, said, “This is the longest follow-up of protocols incorporating novel therapies into initial therapy of nontransplant candidates in myeloma. Remarkably, bortezomib with melphalan and prednisone significantly prolongs survival with 5 years of follow-up. Moreover, no adverse events or increased incidence of secondary malignancies has been observed. This further validates bortezomib as a major advance in a new treatment paradigm in myeloma.”

Dr. Anderson is Kraft Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Jerome Lipper Myeloma Center and Lebow Institute of Myeloma Therapeutics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. ■

Disclosure: Dr. Anderson is on the advisory board for Millennium Takeda.