Dr. Berdeja Discusses the Future of Treatment for Myeloma

Jesus Berdeja, MD, director of Multiple Myeloma Research, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the future of treatment for patients with myeloma.

In 2018, there is a possibility that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies such as bb2121 will be approved in multiple myeloma, Berdeja says. The BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy bb2121 induced complete remissions for 56% of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in the dose-escalation study presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting. In this study, the objective response rate was 94%, which consisted of a very good partial response or better for 89% of patients.

Additionally, agents such as daratumumab (Darzalex) and selinexor may experience approvals in the frontline and relapsed/refractory settings, respectively. Similar to the lymphoma space, there is promise with antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma. Trials with these agents are currently ongoing.