As part of a CancerNetwork® Frontline Forum program, Joselle Cook, MBBS; Matthew James Pianko, MD; Luciano Costa, MD, PhD; and Timothy Schmidt, MD, reviewed key data updates and real-world practice findings in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM), and how they may impact patient subgroups including those with transplant-ineligible NDMM.

Cook, a hematologist specializing in the management of patients with multiple myeloma at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; and Pianko, a hematologist in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, led one part of the discussion. They discussed efficacy results from studies including the phase 3 MAIA study (NCT02252172), which assessed daratumumab (Darzalex) plus lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone vs lenalidomide plus dexamethasone in previously untreated multiple myeloma. They also spoke about the selection of patients with transplant ineligible multiple myeloma for triplet vs doublet induction therapy regimens and potential disparities in care for patients of racial and ethnic minorities.

“We need trials to accommodate patients who are working [and patients] who are unpartnered, [and] we need to do more to understand the biologic drivers [of multiple myeloma] in Black patients,” Cook said. “Even though we have this explosion of [new] therapies onto the scene, we still have so much to do to make access to these novel treatments accessible and more equitable for everyone.”

Costa, a professor of Medicine and director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Schmidt, assistant professor in the Division of Hematology, Medical Oncology, and Palliative Care within the Division of Medicine at The University of Wisconsin, also discussed updates in the multiple myeloma space, which included a review of findings from the phase 2 GRIFFIN trial (NCT02874742). In this trial, investigators assessed daratumumab plus lenalidomide, bortezomib (Velcade), and dexamethasone as a treatment for patients with transplant-ineligible NDMM. Costa and Schmidt also spoke about approaching consolidation and maintenance therapy for patients with transplant-ineligible NDMM.

“As we’re trying to move treatments into earlier lines of therapy—particularly things like bispecifics and CAR T—improving access is [something] that we as a field and as a community need to address,” Schmidt said. 

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