Unmet Needs and Future Perspectives in Multiple Myeloma
A panel of experts discuss unmet needs in multiple myeloma and offer perspectives on the future treatment landscape.
Transcript:
Ola Landgren, MD, PhD: Before we close, I would like to get some unmet needs and future perspectives from each of you. Do you want to go first, Ben?
Benjamin Diamond, MD: Yes, I’d be happy to. We’re sort of in a renaissance right now, where immunotherapies are taking the myeloma field by force and we’re getting really great responses, whereas in years past, the situation would be hopeless. These drugs are moving closer and closer to the front line, and that’s fantastic and well deserved. At this point, our unmet need is trying to figure out, first of all, how best to manage the toxicities. Secondly, we have to figure out who the appropriate patients to receive adapted therapy for [are]. Some patients might get away with less therapy. Some patients we are clearly undertreating and they’re going to need more therapy. And as we have access to these immunotherapies, we’re going to really have to figure out how best to use them.
Ola Landgren, MD, PhD: Thank you. Dickran?
Dickran Kazandjian, MD: It’s a new era in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. As I mentioned before, autologous transplant is not the nucleus of everything. We need to sit down and think about which patients would benefit from high-dose melphalan. Because as the research is moving forward, we’re also finding a lot of longer-term complications, because patients are living longer with the use of high-dose melphalan. So it’s really a benefit-risk, and we need to be careful. Meanwhile, this is juxtaposed to the fact that, as mentioned, the immunotherapies are showing such promise, and they will most likely be quickly moving to the earlier treatment setting. We’re already seeing trials with both bispecifics and CAR T [cells] being used for newly diagnosed myeloma. It’s a very bright future, and [I’m] looking forward to seeing where the field goes.
Ola Landgren, MD, PhD: Thank you. Dennis?
Dennis Verducci, APRN: As Ben and Dickran said, it’s a very exciting time for myeloma. The addition of immunotherapies and bringing them to the forefront of induction therapy has really just changed the landscape for both transplant-eligible and transplant-ineligible patients. Patients [can] achieve a very deep and durable remission with the addition of daratumumab. And it’s exciting, too, because now we’re in a position where we can ask ourselves: Can we stop therapy in some of these patients? Whereas when I first entered the field of myeloma 12 years ago, it was never even a question to ask because we simply didn’t have the resources to do so. We didn’t have the drugs [or] the testing we have now. It’s truly just a remarkable time for myeloma.
Ola Landgren, MD, PhD: Thank you. I would like to thank our faculty for joining us in this lively discussion on the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma brought to you by Cancer Network® Around the Practice®.And thank you, our viewing audience. We hope you found this interactive discussion to be informative and beneficial to your clinical practice. Thank you.
Transcript edited for clarity.
