Looking Ahead to the Future of Multiple Myeloma Treatment

Video

Nina Shah, MD, looks to the future of treating patients with multiple myeloma.

Nina Shah, MD: As we move forward in multiple myeloma, I’m excited to see longer term follow-up data for the immunotherapy trials because it’s important for us to know what kind of duration of response our patients are going to get. I am interested in seeing quality of life data because I want to know how to choose between these modalities, which may not be the best for one patient versus another, or what may be best suited for all patients. I also want to see how we’re incorporating minimal residual disease [MRD] for decision making. For that, we’ll look to trials like the MASTER trial [NCT03224507]. Finally, I’m really excited to see if there’s some way that we could get blood-based MRD testing, which is already being looked at with mass spectrometry and other technologies, because I would love for patients to be able to avoid bone marrow [biopsies]. I hate ordering them and patients hate getting them and it’d be great if we could use something else to detect disease and detect it early.

Recent Videos
“Every patient [with multiple myeloma] should be offered CAR T before they’re offered a bispecific, with some rare exceptions,” said Barry Paul, MD.
Barry Paul, MD, listed cilta-cel, anito-cel, and arlo-cel as 3 of the CAR T-cell therapies with the most promising efficacy in patients with multiple myeloma.
Elucidating nonresponses to bispecific T-cell engagers may be an important research consideration in the multiple myeloma field.
Fixed treatment durations with bispecific antibodies followed by observation may help in mitigating infection-related AEs, according to Shebli Atrash, MD.
Shebli Atrash, MD, stated that MRD should be considered carefully as an end point, given potential recurrence despite MRD negativity.
The National ICE-T Conference may inspire future collaboration between community and academic oncologists in the management of different cancers.
Long-term toxicities like infections and secondary primary malignancies remain a concern when sequencing novel agents for those with multiple myeloma.
Management of adverse effects and access to cellular therapies among community oncologists represented key points of discussion in multiple myeloma.
“If you have a [patient in the] fourth or fifth line, [JNJ-5322] could be a valid drug of choice,” said Rakesh Popat, BSc, MBBS, MRCP, FRCPath, PhD.
Earlier treatment with daratumumab may be better tolerated for patients with pretreated MRD-negative multiple myeloma.
Related Content