Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — The Saudi Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (SSBMT), in collaboration with Takeda, organized the ninth edition of the conference on Blood and Marrow Transplantation in the presence of a group of leading researchers and academicians, Takeda representatives and media professionals. The aim of conducting the conference was to educate the community about tumors and blood diseases.

During the conference, the participating professors discussed the latest studies and researches, revolving around the development and production of a range of treatments that would significantly stop the expansion of cancer cells in order to alleviate the suffering of patients and their families. A new treatment under the name of Ixazomib was revealed for patients with multiple myeloma tumor, the first oral proteasome inhibitor which has demonstrated its effectiveness in inhibiting the disease and removing possible barriers in treatment.

In his keynote address, Dr. Ahmed Al-Askar, consultant and associate professor, King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences and the president of Saudi Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (SSBMT) said: “The causes of myeloma are yet not clear, though we have taken an important step to meet needs of patients with multiple myeloma. The incidence rate in Saudi Arabia is 0.5 per 100,000 people. The age of those infected ranges between 40 and 75 years and above. Males are most vulnerable to this disease. They stand at 42% as compared to 35% females. As indicated by a study, 72% of the newly diagnosed patients are in the main cities and 28% are from remote areas”.

“Multiple myeloma is a rare type of tumor, with 114,000 new cases reported worldwide, each year. People with multiple myeloma need to be treated under medical supervision to help control the disease. Ixazomib is a confirmation of our commitment at Takeda to develop innovative therapies that serve patients and help them live a better life”, said Khaled Sary, country head at Takeda Saudi Arabia. “With the approval of Ixazomib, Takeda will be able to provide an oral treatment regimen that delivers the demonstrated efficacy of proteasome inhibition, while removing potential barriers to treatment through its once-weekly dosing. We look forward to launching Ixazomib for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, as we continue to study this medicine in additional indications” Sary added.

Doctors pointed out that myeloma begins with one abnormal plasma cell in the bone marrow. The plasma cell is soft and blood-forming tissue that fills most of the bones. One of the points worth mentioning is that abnormal cells multiply quickly and cancer cells do not mature and die as normal cells do, but they accumulate and eventually no healthy cells are produced, resulting in fatigue and inability to fight infections.

According to recent statistics from the American Blood and Lymphoma Society, figures for Hematology are frightening. Leukemia, myeloma and lymphoma are responsible for 10% of the total cancer diagnosis in 2018. This highlights on the importance of educating our society about the disease, its symptoms and its complications as well as education on ways to combat this type of disease and stop its spread in the cells of the human body.