Dr. Cooper on Leveraging Novel Agents and Combos in Multiple Myeloma

Dennis Cooper, MD, chief of blood and marrow transplantation at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, sheds light on the novel therapeutic regimens available to patients with multiple myeloma.

To treat patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, different classes of drugs are often being combined, according to Cooper. The armamentarium includes immunomodulatory drugs, such as lenalidomide (Revlimid) or pomalidomide (Pomalyst); proteasome inhibitors, such as bortezomib (Velcade) and carfilzomib (Kyprolis); and anti-CD38 antibodies, such as daratumumab (Darzalex) and isatuximab-irfc (Sarclisa).

Currently, patients are receiving 4-drug regimens comprised of these agents, plus dexamethasone, and achieving unprecedented responses, Cooper says. When patients relapse, which often happens later on in the disease course, they are given drugs of either the same class but different generation, or a different class of drugs, Cooper adds. In the future, immunotherapy drugs may be leveraged earlier on in the treatment journey, potentially as initial treatment, Cooper concludes.