Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are highly susceptible to developing relapsed and refractory (RR) disease towards lenalidomide and proteasome inhibitors (PIs) and require new active treatments at relapse. As such, novel treatment options like isatuximab, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that targets

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease, and nearly all patients will have a relapse at some point in their life. The recent advance in MM management has brought about significant improvements in the survival of MM patients. Thanks to the prolonged survivals, clinicians increasingly consider drug tolerability, patient adherence and quality of life (QoL) important in MM management. 

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological disease with a global incidence of 160,000 cases in 2018.^1,2 Since treatment failure among patients with relapsed/ refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM) was common with conventional therapies, additional treatment options are urgently needed to improve the survivals of these patients.^2,3 At the recently held Annual Scientific Meeting of Hong Kong Society of Myeloma, Dr. Keith Stewart revealed the merits of carfilzomib, a second-generation proteasome inhibitor, as a combination therapy to manage rrMM and highlighted the results of ARROW - the first randomized phase 3 trial comparing the efficacy and safety of twice-weekly carfilzomib + dexamethasone (Kd) regimen with the once-weekly Kd regimen.

A triplet combination induction therapy of lenalidomide, bortezomib and dexamethasone (RVd), followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), and the lenalidomide (R) maintenance therapy, is the standard frontline regimen for transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM).¹ Although the standard induction therapy may be efficient to a certain extent, novel strategies with higher efficacy and lesser toxicity are needed.

GRIFFIN is a randomized phase 2 study examining the efficacy and safety of daratumumab (DARA) + RVd (D-RVd) as an induction therapy, with the aim of improving the stringent complete response (sCR), minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) in transplant-eligible NDMM patients.¹ The patients received 4 D-RVd or RVd induction cycles (21-cycles), 2 D-RVd or RVd consolidation cycles following a high-dose therapy with ASCT, and R maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (28-cycles) alone or with DARA.¹

The subgroup analysis of patients indicated that a treatment regimen integrating D-RVd during induction, consolidation and R maintenance, when combining with ASCT, was clinically effective.1 An improved depth of response was evident through sCR rates and MRD negativity rates.¹ Although results showed a certain favorability towards D-RVd, larger studies with more patients may be required to obtain conclusive data.

With major advances in the management of multiple myeloma (MM), next-generation proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs and anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies were approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory MM (rrMM).¹ However, Prof. Chim, Chor-Sang James noted that most patients who devel

Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematological malignancy and is associated with significant morbidity due to its end-organ destruction.¹ Despite significant treatment advances in the past couple decades, MM remains an incurable malignancy with most patients eventually experience rela

Although the median overall survival (OS) of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has significantly improved over the past two decades, MM remains an incurable malignancy with most patients experiencing relapse and requiring additional therapy.¹ Among these patients, the presence of clonal heterogeni

In the recent DREAMM-2 study, single-agent belantamab mafodotin-blmf has demonstrated anti-myeloma activity with a manageable safety profile in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.¹ Based on this result, the United

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a type of clonal neoplasm with substantial morbidity and mortality. With the development of better therapies, MM has transformed from untreatable to still incurable but treatable.¹