Latest Advances in Multiple Myeloma Treatment

Transcript:Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: Well gentlemen, this has been a great discussion. We've reviewed and discussed a lot of the information on the latest in treatment of multiple myeloma. To close, I'd like to get final thoughts from each of the panelists, if you think we've missed something or if you want to leave the audience with a take-home message. So, we'll start with Dr. Chari.

Ajai Chari, MD: I think what I'm most excited about is the monoclonal antibodies, because I think the two groups that really need more attention are the elderly and the high-risk patients. And I think that's going to be a great place for these drugs, particularly even in the front-line setting for those populations. But, I think it's a really exciting place. It's great to have choices.

Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: Dr. Lonial.

Sagar Lonial, MD: I think the confusion you heard among us about how to choose a treatment strategy is an issue because we've got all these tools now, and we just have to figure out what's the right patient population for using each to maximize the benefit we give to our patients.

Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: All right, the Governor of Massachusetts.

Paul Richardson, MD: I think it's been an amazing year, Keith. It was worth sharing with our audience that in 2015 there have been seven FDA approvals in myeloma across all the drugs we talked about. And I think that the remarkable thing is to have three approvals within the last four to five weeks is unprecedented. And I think it's an incredible time.

Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: It's impressive in any oncology indication.

Paul Richardson, MD: I think it may be, and I think to that point the integration of these treatments and the sequencing of them are all relevant. But at the end of the day, thank God, we need these treatments, we're not curing anyone. And at the end of the day if we're going to get to the point of functional cure in an increasing proportion of patients, we're going to need all of these tools.

Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: Thank you Dr. Richardson. Dr. Shah?

Jatin Shah, MD: I agree. I think it's an exciting time. I think before these drugs came along, we had a challenging time because there was really no standard of care, and I think that it's going to be even more compelling as we move forward, but there is no standard of care in terms of one regimen for all patients. So, I think this really kind of highlights the art of medicine and art of myeloma management. I think we have to embrace that as opposed to trying to get one standard of care for all patients. And I think if we can embrace that, then I think we can really leverage each and every one of these drugs maximally; including our antibodies, panobinostat, or proteasome inhibitors, or IMiDs. I think it's an exciting time.

Keith Stewart, MB, ChB: The art of myeloma management—you heard it here first. So, on behalf of our panel, we thank you for joining us today.

Transcript Edited for Clarity