Tag Archive for: myeloma remission

How Are Myeloma Patients in Remission Monitored?

How Are Myeloma Patients in Remission Monitored? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How often should testing be administered when myeloma is in remission? Dr. Brandon Blue discusses how patients in remission are monitored and when a bone marrow biopsy may be required.

Dr. Brandon Blue is Assistant Member and Clinical Instructor in the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Learn more about Dr. Brandon Blue.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. Blue, how often should bone marrow biopsy be performed in the years following a stem cell transplant?  

Dr. Brandon Blue:

So, typically following stem cell transplant patients are kind of switched to what we call maintenance therapy.  

Meaning that the disease is typically under control after transplant, and our job right now is to kind of put the lid on the disease and keep that lid on so that the disease doesn’t kind of bubble over. And likely, people are on that maintenance therapy for three, four, sometimes even five years, or more. And so, sometimes when the disease is very stagnant or very stable, and people are on maintenance therapy, there may not be a need for multiple repeated bone marrow biopsies. 

Because the disease may just be in a kind of dormant or remission stage. However, at the first sign that we see that things are changing, we see that unfortunately the disease may be starting to relapse, or maybe even there’s a new pain, or things happening that just need further investigation, I think a bone marrow biopsy would be very warranted at that time.  

Katherine Banwell:

Okay. So, when patients are in a kind of remission stage you just monitor them. Do you continue to do bloodwork, and test their urine, and so on?  

Dr. Brandon Blue:

Blood, urine, imaging. Blood, urine imaging. 

Katherine Banwell:

Yeah. Blood, urine, imaging.   

Dr. Brandon Blue:

Yup. Those would be the best ways to follow it. Of course, the gold standard would be a bone marrow biopsy, but typically what happens is that the blood, the urine, and the imaging typically reflect what’s happening in the bone marrow. It’d be sometimes very unlikely for a patient’s bloodwork to be normal, but then the bone marrow to be ridden with cancer. Typically, it doesn’t work that way. There are some unique circumstances where bone marrow biopsies are needed in people who have something called non-secretory myeloma, but that’s a very small percentage. 

Myeloma Maintenance Therapy | What Patients Need to Know

Myeloma Maintenance Therapy | What Patients Need to Know from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What should myeloma patients know about maintenance therapy? Expert Dr. Benjamin Derman discusses the role of maintenance therapy, data presented at the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, and the role of minimal residual disease (MRD) testing in myeloma care.

Dr. Benjamin Derman is a hematologist and oncologist specializing in multiple myeloma at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Derman.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

When a patient goes into remission, they’re often placed on a maintenance therapy. What’s the role of maintenance therapy in myeloma care?  

Dr. Derman:

Yeah. So, maintenance, just to specify, is typically something that we call a long duration of usually, less intensive therapy after a more intensive schedule of therapy. So, the most common area that we talk about maintenance is after, let’s say, an autologous stem cell transplant, which came after induction therapy that I mentioned.  

But for patients even who don’t go to a stem cell transplant, they can also go on maintenance therapy. So, when we think about the frontline setting, which in this case would be induction transplant maintenance, the most commonly used drug is a single agent lenalidomide (Revlimid). And that’s been shown to have survival benefits not just in keeping the disease away, but also helping patients live longer. So, maintenance therapy does seem to carry some real importance. One of the things though that we don’t know, is really how long patients need to be on maintenance therapy.  

So, we can all accept I think in the myeloma field, if there’s one thing we can agree on, is that maintenance is important. But the question is, what makes up that maintenance therapy? And then how long? Those are questions we don’t really have the best answers to. And actually, one of the areas that I do quite a bit of research in is about this, how long do patients need to be on therapy?  

So, we recently published some – we presented at ASH this year in 2022, some recent data, at least a preliminary data on patients who had really deep responses, and who we stopped their maintenance therapy after at least one year – but the average was about three-and-a-half years on maintenance therapy – to see if the disease would actually be at risk of coming back.  

And so, what we’re finding is that even in the first year, about 85 percent of patients did not have their disease come back after stopping therapy. So, maintenance therapy is certainly important, but I think we still have to figure out how long patients need to be on that therapy.  

Katherine:

Right. And I can imagine that each person, each patient is different, and some – the maintenance therapy would work really well for them for a long period of time. For others, not necessarily.  

Dr. Derman:

Yeah. I mean, a lot of it comes down to the risk there of the patient’s myeloma. And what I mean by that is – so, somebody has explained to me previously, and I really like the analogy that myelomas are kind of like people. They have different personalities, and they give first impressions. And sometimes your first impression of a myeloma may end up being wrong. You thought it was going to be really hard to treat and you found out that it actually responded pretty nicely to therapy. And other times, it’s the other way around.  

But for the ones that give us a bad first impression, we’re going to be treating those patients typically more aggressively. At least that’s my personal approach. And I take that all the way through from induction, to transplant, even into maintenance therapy where I mentioned already, most people will prescribe a single drug as maintenance therapy. But for those patients, I’m typically going to be prescribing more than that. Or I will continue more aggressive therapy for longer. So, that’s where you have to sort of adapt your therapy in some cases to the patient and their disease characteristics.  

Katherine:

Related to maintenance therapy, we received this question before the program. How do doctors feel about maintenance breaks if you are MRD-negative? Or in a very good response?  

Dr. Derman:

So, I want to be very careful about how I respond to this. Because what I’m going to say is, there’s currently no data to tell us that patients should stop. I mean, in part that’s, you should stop therapy. In part that’s what I’m hoping that we can answer with our study. There’s another large cooperative group study trying to answer this as well, about the duration piece and whether people can stop.  

So, a very good partial response signifies at least a 90 percent reduction in the tumor, in the myeloma, but not 100 percent.  

And there’s also a complete response, which means there’s no detectable disease by conventional methods in the bone marrow or in the blood, but that there can still be microscopic or low levels of cancer cells which we call minimal residual or measurable residual disease. Also called MRD.  

So, MRD negativity is a not so nascent field now, where we are trying to quantify small amounts of cancer cells that may still be present. And the theory is that the presence of residual disease at a small measurable level is what’s ultimately responsible for myeloma relapsing.  

We used to think like, “Oh, a patient is in a complete response. That’s amazing. Let’s clink our champagne glasses. Let’s celebrate.” And there’s still cause for celebration for that. That is a great achievement. But we know that that doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. If there is MRD-positive disease, then the disease, it can likely come back. And that’s where suppression of the disease with something like maintenance therapy with lenalidomide is probably helping a lot.  

Katherine:

Yeah. 

Dr. Derman:

But let’s say we have people who don’t have detectable disease, the question is, can they stop? And like I mentioned, we’re trying to answer that question. I would say right now, there’s no recommendation for that. I can’t say in good faith that you should be doing that, unless it’s as part of a clinical trial, which is what we’re hoping to answer.  

What Is Minimal Residual Testing in Multiple Myeloma?

What is Minimal Residual Testing in Multiple Myeloma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How is minimal residual testing (MRD) used for multiple myeloma patients? Watch as expert Dr. Nina Shah explains the use of MRD testing, and myeloma patient and Empowerment Lead Lisa Hatfield shares her knowledge of MRD testing and how specialists use it in treatment and care.

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Transcript:

Dr. Nina Shah:

Minimal residual disease is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the disease that you can’t see under the microscope, but it’s still there. And I sort of equate it to the little deep food particles that are in a pot after you clean it and really, really scrub it, but still, something is in there. And that’s what it is for myeloma.

Minimal residual disease testing, or MRD testing, is performed to locate any small number of cancer cells that remain in the cancer patient’s bone marrow during or following treatment. The presence of any remaining cancer cells is the most common cause of relapse in blood cancers, so MRD testing is used to gauge treatment success, to compare different treatments, to detect myeloma recurrence, to monitor patient remission, and to help choose optimal treatments. 

Lisa Hatfield:

So when I was first diagnosed, MRD testing, or minimal residual disease testing, sometimes called measurable residual disease testing, was just, they were looking at having it approved by the FDA for clinical trials only. Still it was only approved for clinical trials as an end point. However, a lot of myeloma specialists are using this MRD testing to help guide decisions. It’s not approved for that yet but to help guide decisions for patients who have a really great response to their induction chemo and stem cell transplant that they may have after induction chemo and after some years of maintenance to see if they can possibly go off of their maintenance therapy. It is occasionally being used, MRD testing, is being used to help guide providers and patients on where to go with treatment. So MRD testing requires a bone marrow biopsy. The most sensitive MRD testing is called clonoSEQ testing, it is NGS testing. It does require the original bone marrow sample, and then they can track that over time each year or however often you have bone marrow biopsies to see if the cloned cells are still there.

So MRD testing right now requires the bone marrow biopsy. I’m hoping that someday it can be done with a blood test, but it’s really important for tracking purposes to see if you’re responding to therapy, to see if you’re staying in remission during maintenance therapy. And it’s even worthwhile too if you’re having toxicities from maintenance therapy to consider going off of that therapy. You can test to see, right now the MRD testing is testing to see if they can find one myeloma cell out of one million cells. So it’s called 10-6 MRD testing. That’s the most sensitive test that’s out there to date and really important if you’re considering possibly going off of maintenance therapy or are having significant toxicities during your treatment.

How Is Myeloma Treatment Response Measured?

How Is Myeloma Treatment Response Measured? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Betsy O’Donnell reviews the terms that define myeloma treatment response, such as complete remission (CR) and partial remission (PR). Dr. O’Donnell goes on to discuss the new tools that are being used to monitor treatment effectiveness, including MRD (minimal residual disease).

Dr. Betsy O’Donnell is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute specializing in Plasma Cell Disorders.

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How Is Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma Managed?

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Understanding MRD and What It Means for Myeloma Patients


Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Dr. O’Donnell, Alex wrote in with this question. “What is the difference between a complete response, VGPR, and PR as it applies to prognosis and maintenance after an autologous stem cell transplant?” And before you answer the question, would you define VGPR and PR for us?   

Dr. Betsy O’Donnell:

Sure. So, we have different criteria that help us understand how well a drug is working, and they’re uniformly used across clinical trials so that we’re all speaking the same language. And so we talk about a PR, a VGPR, and a CR. So, a CR is a complete response, which is 100 percent of that monoclonal protein that we initially detected is gone. We can’t measure it. Or if you have an elevated light chain, which is another piece of the protein, that has gone back down to normal. 

Taking that a step further, astringent CR is if we do a bone marrow biopsy and we can’t find any cancer plasma cells in there. A VGPR is where we see a 90 percent reduction in the amount of protein we can measure, and a PR is anything over – a partial response is anything over 50 percent. 

So, that’s a language we speak really just so that when we’re interpreting clinical trials, we all are using the same criteria. 

And so these are different terms that classify it. If the example that you gave, someone’s had a transplant, what would typically happen 100 days after that transplant is a patient would restart maintenance therapy.   

The classic maintenance is just lenalidomide (Revlimid), which is the pill that they were probably taking before that. And there’s a lot of controversy now but no good answers about changing therapy after a transplant, if you haven’t received a deep response. 

What we do know is that after a transplant, when someone goes on lenalidomide maintenance, they continue to respond. So, the greatest depth of response is not necessarily achieved in the induction phase or right immediately after transplant, but over time on maintenance. 

There’s another tool that we’re now using and incorporating, both in terms of how we assess treatment but also potentially in how we modify treatment, which is something called minimal residual disease, MRD, which goes a step beyond. When people have astringent CR, a CR, looking for really just traces of the disease on a molecular level.  

And all of those help us understand how well the patient has responded and how long that remission might last, but they’re not definitive in terms of how we should adjust treatment based on those right now. 

How Is Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma Managed?

How Is Relapsed or Refractory Myeloma Managed? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Drs. Irene Ghobrial and Betsy O’Donnell discuss next steps if myeloma relapse occurs or the disease doesn’t respond to treatment. The experts review the necessary tests following a myeloma relapse and how a treatment choice is determined.

Dr. Irene Ghobrial is Director of the Clinical Investigator Research Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Learn more about Dr. Ghobrial.

Dr. Betsy O’Donnell is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute specializing in Plasma Cell Disorders. 

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

We know that relapse can happen. Dr. Ghobrial, how common is relapsed or refractory disease? 

Dr. Irene Ghobrial:

Yes, and, fortunately, we do have amazing remissions. We have very long remissions. Many people are living 10 years, 15 years and longer, which as Dr. Nadeem said, was not something we knew about years ago. I trained 20 years ago as a fellow, and myeloma was a survival of three to five years.  

We’ve come a long way, but we want to change that even better. We want a cure. We want to tell a patient, “You are done. You’re cured,” and we will not stop until that happens. So, when people have a progression again or relapse, then we want to consider what is the next available option. What is the best option to give them yet one more long, long remission? We are failing sometimes, and that’s because the disease is so bad, the biology of the disease is so bad, and the drugs that we’re using may not be the best drugs for that patient. 

And that’s why we need to understand better the biology and pick the right drugs for the right patient up front as much as we can, and also think about earlier treatment. We were just saying we probably have amazing drugs, but we’re waiting way too long until people have almost metastatic disease, and then we treat them. Why not think of an earlier interception when the disease is less mutated, when you have less cancer cells, a better immune system, and use your best drugs then? And hopefully we will achieve cure in many of those patients. 

Katherine Banwell:

What testing takes place after a relapse? Is it different than what has happened before, the testing that was done before? 

Dr. Irene Ghobrial:

No, the same tests exactly. We sort of say it’s restaging. We check everything again – the bone marrow biopsy, the FISH, because you may now develop a 17p that was probably there, but the very, very small number of cells that you cannot detect, and now it grows because of something called chrono selection. The drugs kill the sensitive cells, but they don’t kill the bad cells, and that’s how we can get all of those changes and mutations.  

Katherine Banwell:

Okay. Dr. O’Donnell, is the process for choosing treatment different for a relapsed or refractory patient? 

Dr. Irene Ghobrial:

So, that’s a great question. Yes, it can be. I mean, again, it always depends on how the person is doing at that time. It also depends, there are certain drugs that may not be approved in the front lines, something like venetoclax (Venclexta). If a person has a specific translocation, this 11;14, that’s something that we would like it in a second-line setting, for example. 

Usually one of the big questions people ask is if you’re on a specific class of drugs, should you change classes? So, this example is if you’re on lenalidomide (Revlimid), and you have evidence that your disease is progressing, should you change to a different type of drug? A proteasome inhibitor, monoclonal antibody? Should that include one of the same classes of drug, like pomalidomide (Pomalyst), which is the next generation? 

So, there are a lot of different factors that we consider. The number of drugs. So, you know, as Dr. Nadeem said, historically – there’s a lot of history in myeloma therapy, and it’s been an evolution, and so now we’ve had people who were treated with the three-drug combination that are starting, after many years, to progress. So, we might choose a monoclonal antibody for those patients because it wasn’t available at the time they were diagnosed. Versus patients now, who are typically on a four-drug regimen that includes those monoclonal antibodies and all the different classes of drugs. 

We’re looking at different and, if available, novel agents to put those patients on. And again, I think Dr. Nadeem made a really important point that I want to underscore, which is that very often our best therapies are available in clinical trials. And so when and if there is the opportunity to be on a clinical trial, you may be then able to get something that would not otherwise be available to you. So, I encourage people to always have an open mind to being on a clinical trial at any stage in their disease treatment. 

Katherine Banwell:

What therapies are available for relapse or refractory disease? Are they different than other therapies? 

Dr. Betsy O’Donnell:

You know, so that’s a great question. So, yes and no. I highlighted one example that might be a little bit different, but in general, we’re very fortunate that we have multiple classes of drugs, meaning we have different drugs that work differently to kill your myeloma cells. And as Dr. Nadeem said earlier, we use those in combinations to increase the effectiveness of those medicines. Within each class we have a variety of drugs. 

You used the example of immunomodulators, and show that we have three different of those type of drugs.   

We have two different proteasome inhibitors. Beyond that, we have other classes of drugs that were mentioned. We have monoclonal antibodies, immunotherapies.  

And so very often we make, it’s almost like a mix where we pick what we think is going to be most effective, sometimes based on cytogenetics. The biology. Sometimes based on patient selection. What are their other medical problems, what are their current issues? And we pick the combination that we feel is going to be most effective from the different classes of drugs that we have together, usually trying to use multiple drugs in combination. 

Katherine Banwell:

Well, what newer therapies are available or in development for refractory and relapsed disease? 

Dr. Betsy O’Donnell:

So, I think that the greatest interest that I think we’re all most excited about is the immunotherapy space, and I think we’ve seen – for myeloma, we see that this is a relapsing and remitting disease. 

And what’s been so exciting about CAR-T cells and the bispecific antibodies is that in patients who have had, on average, five relapses, we’re seeing tremendous results. So, complete remissions or very good partial remissions that last. In fact, can last up to two years, on average, with one of our CAR T-cell products. 

So, this is really exciting, especially when you compare to what historically has been out there for patients who have had that many relapses. And just as Dr. Nadeem said, the way that drugs enter, they enter from the relapse refractory setting, ethically that’s what makes the most sense, and they march their way forward. And so that process is happening right now as we speak, and I think like Dr. Ghobrial talked about, is the importance in early disease of thinking about using these really exciting therapies in patients who have lower burdens of disease with a goal of cure. 

And so I think all of us on this call are committed to one thing, and that is curing multiple myeloma, and even the precursors that lead up to it so that patients never have to go through the process of years and years of therapy. And so I think we’re very excited about what immunotherapy might be able to offer as we move forward in myeloma treatment. 

How Is CAR T-Cell Therapy Changing the Myeloma Treatment Landscape?

How Is CAR T-Cell Therapy Changing the Myeloma Treatment Landscape?  from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Melissa Alsina discusses the evolution of myeloma treatment over the past several years, including an explanation of the two FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies available for myeloma patients.

Dr. Melissa Alsina is an associate professor of medicine in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida where she also serves as head of the Multiple Myeloma Transplant Program. Learn more about Dr. Alsina, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

I’d like to start by talking about innovations in myeloma therapy. How have treatment options for myeloma evolved over the past several years? 

Dr. Alsina:

Yeah, well, the easy answer to that is dramatically. It’s really amazing, the number of advances that we’ve had in the treatment. When I think 20 to 25 years ago, we had two drugs for myeloma, rare opportunity to get any patient in complete remission. 

And now, we have many, many drugs, we continue to have bone marrow transplants, now we have CAR-T cellular immunotherapies, and able to get patients – over 80 percent of the patients in remission up front, and even in the relapse setting, many of them with CAR-T, for example. One of the CAR-Ts is able to get 80 percent of the patients in remission, so it’s really incredible, the amount of advances. 

Katherine:

Yeah. How is CAR T-cell therapy changing the field? 

Dr. Alsina:

So, we – probably everyone knows that there have been two CAR-T products approved for myeloma in the past year. We’re not doing as good as the lymphoma group. Those were the first CAR-T cells, were approved for lymphoma/leukemia, and for those patients with lymphoma and leukemia, there’s an opportunity for a cure, whereas in myeloma, in the setting that we’re using CAR-T right now, which is for patients that have failed multiple lines of therapy, at least four prior lines of therapy, those patients are not cured.   

Katherine:

Yeah. You mentioned that there are two CAR T-cell therapies available right now for myeloma patients. What are they? 

Dr. Alsina:

So, the first one, that was approved in March of last year the commercial name is Abecma. This is made by a company that is called BMS. It targets BCMA, which is B-cell maturation antigen, which is the protein that is preferentially expressed in the myeloma cells, so it’s a really good target for myeloma, and this is the one that studies show that we get response rates at about 75 to 80 percent with remission rates about 40 percent, and in the real world, since Abecma was approved, we’ve treated many patients – at Moffitt, actually, I think we have the largest number in the whole United States, close to 60 patients, and we’re seeing the same.  

So, really, when we translate that to the real world, we’re seeing the same results, and I would argue that perhaps better because the patients that go on trial are very selective patients – they need to have good counts, they cannot have renal insufficiency, all this different criteria, and actually, when we looked at it, we found that 71 percent of the patients that we treated in the real world with Abecma would not have been eligible for trial, but yet, we’re getting the same results – the same results in terms of efficacy and the same results in terms of safety.  

Katherine:

What is the second CAR T-cell therapy available? 

Dr. Alsina:

The second CAR-T was approved just recently, in February of this year, and that is cilta-cel. The commercial name for this is Carvykti, and this one, we do not have a lot of real-world experience because the manufacture and availability of the product is still very limited, so we only have been able to do two patients per month with Carvykti. However, the studies show this agent to be extremely effective, with response rates close to 100 percent and a complete remission rate of 80 percent, which is… 

Katherine:

That’s phenomenal. 

Dr. Alsina:

Right? It’s phenomenal for this patient population. So, we’re definitely very excited with this. I think a major issue with CAR-T that you may or may not have heard – I’m pretty sure all the patients are aware of this, but it’s the availability. When these products are approved, because these products have to be manufactured from the patient cells, the companies cannot release – cannot meet the demand, so there are a lot more patients that need CAR-T than product availability.  

So, we have a waiting list, and this is true for all centers. With the first product, with ide-cel/Abecma, now, at least, in our center, we have been able to catch up a little bit. We’re getting about eight slots per month, so it’s a significant amount. We still are not able to offer it to every single patient that needs it at the moment, but we’re doing much better than the beginning. 

As I mentioned before, with Carvykti, it’s still a significant challenge, and again, we’re getting maybe one or two slots per month. Talking with these companies, they expect that is going to improve by early next year, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed because right now – and this is true for us and many myeloma centers – we have over 100 patients in the waiting list. 

But in any case, even with that, I would encourage any patient that needs CAR-T to go to a center because even though we have a long list, for example, some of those patients that are on the list, they don’t need CAR-T right now, so it doesn’t mean that 120 patients on the list need CAR-T at the moment. So, we normally would go down the list according to when we saw the patient, and then the needs of the patient at the moment that we have a slot, and that’s how we make our selection. 

So, the ideal situation is the patient seeks a CAR-T consult early on. Don’t wait until you have failed four therapies to go. When you start your third line of therapy, go, because then you get on the list. By the time you really need it and are eligible to get it, then it might be accessible to you. 

Understanding MRD and What It Means for Myeloma Patients

Understanding MRD and What It Means for Myeloma Patients  from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Myeloma expert Dr. Melissa Alsina, of Moffitt Cancer Center, provides an explanation of minimal residual disease (MRD) and how she uses MRD in patient care.

Dr. Melissa Alsina is an associate professor of medicine in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida where she also serves as head of the Multiple Myeloma Transplant Program. Learn more about Dr. Alsina, here.

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Transcript:

Katherine:

What is MRD, and what does it mean for patients? 

Dr. Alsina:

So, MRD stands for minimal residual disease. So, it means that if a patient is in complete remission, what it would mean is that I don’t see any myeloma cells in the bone marrow and I don’t see an M spike. The M-spike is zero in the blood and in the urine, and the light chains are fine.  

But even with that, there maybe be some disease that is residual that I can’t see by conventional methods, so there’s two methods that have been developed that are able to detect one cancer cell in a million cells. 

Katherine:

Wow. 

Dr. Alsina:

So, if I have a patient that is in complete remission, I can use one of those methods to look, and that will tell me if the patient still has minimal residual disease or not. 

So, the reason why it is important is because there are many studies that have shown that if I can get a patient to be minimal-residual-disease-negative, no evidence of disease by those two tests – that I can explain a little bit more if you want – then those patients are going to do better, their response is going to last longer, and the patients are going to live longer. 

So, nowadays, with our better treatments, we use also that as a goal. We say okay, I not only want to get a patient in a complete remission, I want to get that patient to MRD negativity.  

And we do adjust our therapy to get there. As an example, I can do a transplant in a patient, and three months after transplant, I look at that minimal residual disease. If it’s negative, then I do Revlimid (lenalidomide) maintenance, which would be standard of care. If it’s positive, I use two drugs to try to get that patient to that MRD-negativity level, and there are many studies right now looking at how to adjust our treatment based on response. 

What is Multiple Myeloma?

 

What is Multiple Myeloma? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What is multiple myeloma exactly? Dr. Peter Forsberg defines myeloma, explaining how it affects bone marrow, and shares details about myeloma statistics and treatment in the U.S.

Dr. Peter Forsberg is assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is a specialist in multiple myeloma. More about Dr. Forsberg here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Forsberg:             

So, multiple myeloma is a blood cancer. It comes from cells that live in your bone marrow called plasma cells. They’re part of your immune system. And when they do their job, they help protect you from infections.

They’re antibody producing cells. In myeloma, unfortunately something changes in those cells and they begin to grow and live beyond what they normally would. So, myeloma is a disease that results from that and when myeloma is diagnosed, it’s usually because those plasma cells or the antibody they produce has started to cause problems, to cause destructive changes or symptoms. So, that’s multiple myeloma.

And it’s maybe a little more common than people sometimes think. It’s got an unusual name, so most folks haven’t really heard of myeloma when they’re diagnosed with it. But it is the 14th most common cancer and there are about 30,000 cases diagnosed each year in the U.S. and at this point, more than 150,000 people living with myeloma. And that’s because more and more people are living with myeloma all the time. Advancements in treatment have made people live longer and live better with myeloma.

Why Myeloma Patients Should Speak Up: Advice from a Nurse Practitioner

 

Why Myeloma Patients Should Speak Up: Advice from a Nurse Practitioner from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Speaking up, or self-advocating, may influence a myeloma patient’s health outcome. Charise Gleason provides a brief explanation of why patients should ask questions and seek advice from their healthcare team without hesitation.

Charise Gleason is a nurse practitioner specializing in myeloma and serves as the Advanced Practice Provider Chief at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Learn more about Charise, here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

Related Resources:

How to Get the Best Multiple Myeloma Care No Matter Where I Live?

Myeloma Targeted Therapy: Why Identifying Chromosomal Abnormalities is Key

How Targeted Therapy Works to Treat Myeloma

Transcript:

Charise:

I think for patients it’s important to ask questions. I think sometimes they feel like, “I’m sorry I’m asking this,” or, “I’m sorry I’m telling you all about my side effects.” And that’s what’s supposed to happen at our visits.

So, I think patients and their family members or caregivers are their best advocate. And they should never feel bad about asking questions, reaching our, reminding their team of things, and being that advocate. We know about side effects. And we know about these treatments. And we can tell them, but we’re not experiencing them. So, there’s nothing that’s too small. And with everything we do, come some sort of side effect. So, it’s really a team approach to manage these things. And you never want patients to be suffering through. And reaching out to your team, even between visits, is really important.

Writing things down. Coming to a visit with a list of questions. These visits go quickly and if you come with those five things you really want to ask, or more… But have them written down so you don’t miss it in your visit so you feel like you’re part of that discussion and you’re getting the information that you need.

Can Multiple Myeloma Be Cured?

Cancer, the abnormal growth of cells that multiply aggressively, has become one of the most prevalent diseases in today’s time. Diagnosis marks one of the most challenging periods in a person’s life. Although curable at early stages, the malignancy itself and the side-effects of treatment change the sufferer’s life at a significant scale.

Lymphocytes represent a major component of the body’s immune system. There are two types of lymphocytes, T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes, and both are crucial for fighting pathogens. When the B lymphocytes respond to a foreign body, they mature into plasma cells and memory cells. The plasma cell is responsible for making immunoglobulins, also known as antibodies, specific to that particular pathogen. These antibodies are the most important precursors in the defense mechanism of the body.

Multiple Myeloma is a type of cancer that seeds itself in these plasma cells that comprise the body’s major immune component. Plasma cells are the prime fighters against foreign organisms such as bacteria, virus, and fungi. Their tendency to engulf the opponent malfunctions and thus the immunity gets badly affected in Multiple Myeloma.

Causes and risk factors for Multiple Myeloma

Although the cause of multiple myeloma is not known, certain risk factors can contribute to it.

1. Toxic chemicals

Toxic, cancer-causing chemicals include benzene-infused products, products that contain sulfates and parabens, fire retardants, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). These all are said to be the highest cancer-causing agents. Out of all the chemicals, the ones containing chlorine are the ones that rank first in the production of cancer. Research has demonstrated the relationship between Multiple Myeloma and occupational exposure to six chlorinated solvents: 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethylene (TCE), methylene chloride (DCM), perchloroethylene (PCE), carbon tetrachloride, and chloroform, respectively. The occupational solvents here refer to those used in industries and factories.

The study concluded that among all six chlorinated agents, TCA showed the most elevated levels in leading to Multiple Myeloma.

2. Exposure to radiation

Workers at hospitals or diagnostic institutes are at higher risk of Multiple Myeloma. The radiation emitted is so powerful that it can surpass the skin, tissues, and muscles and can penetrate the bones to enter the bone marrow. A cohort study done in Mayak concluded that radiation emission greater than 1 Gy has significantly produced a higher risk of Lymphoma, Leukemia and Multiple Myeloma.

3. Viruses and immune disorders

Certain viruses have a correlation with Multiple Myeloma however, their association is still unknown. The viruses include: 

  • Simian Virus 40: This is one of the most intense polyomaviruses. It induces primary brain and bone cancers. It’s oncogenic (cancer-causing) property makes it the major culprit in causing multiple myeloma.
  • Several herpes viruses: A study was conducted to evaluate the role of human herpesvirus 8 in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma. Patients with Multiple Myeloma were selected, and their samples of blood were drawn and sent to the lab for testing. The study concluded that the majority of the patients with Multiple Myeloma showed the evidence of human herpesvirus 8 in their blood samples.

Apart from the above viruses, first degree relatives of patients with Multiple Myeloma may develop MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance). Hepatic viruses and HIV have also proven to be linked to Multiple Myeloma.

4. Hereditary

As with many other diseases, Multiple Myeloma tends to run in families who have already been affected by it. In some cases, Multiple Myeloma goes undiagnosed in a principle patient who transfers it to several offspring before discovering it.

5. Age

Patients aged 40 to 60 are at a higher risk to develop Multiple Myeloma.

6. Gender

Multiple Myeloma inflicts men more often than women. The cause is still unknown, but it could be due to hormonal differences. The male to female ratio is approximately 1.54 to 1.

7. Obesity

The role of obesity in contributing to Multiple Myeloma is unclear, but it might be due to insulin resistance and improper functioning of the hormones.

8. Race

African-Americans are twice as likely to have Multiple Myeloma than other races.

Signs and Symptoms of Multiple Myeloma

Based on Multiple Myeloma cases observed so far, following are the signs and symptoms of Multiple Myeloma:

  • Anemia,
  • Bleeding,
  • Nerve damage,
  • Skin lesions (rash),
  • Enlarged tongue (macroglossia),
  • Bone tenderness or pain (including back pain, weakness, fatigue, or tiredness),
  • Infections,
  • Pathologic bone fractures,
  • Back pain,
  • Spinal cord compression,
  • Kidney failure and/or other end-organ damage,
  • Loss of appetite and weight loss,
  • Constipation,
  • Hypercalcemia (high levels of calcium in the blood), and
  • Leg swelling.

Is Multiple Myeloma Hereditary?

Multiple Myeloma is not considered a hereditary disease. While in some cases Multiple Myeloma may occur due to genetic abnormality, there is no evidence that heredity plays any role in its development. Research has shown several factors may contribute towards the development of Multiple Myeloma. While researchers have indicated a very slight chance that disease could be transferred from parents to their offspring,  it’s very uncommon for more than one member of a family to have multiple myeloma.

Stages of Multiple Myeloma

Progressive stages of Multiple Myeloma have been recognized as follows:

  • Smoldering: Multiple myeloma with no symptoms.
  • Stage I: Starts with anemia, relatively small amount of M protein, no bone damage.
  • Stage II: Severe anemia and M protein as well as bone damage.
  • Stage III: Huge concentration of M protein, anemia, kidney damage.

Treatment of Multiple Myeloma

Treatment of Multiple Myeloma varies from patient to patient as cases become more and more complex. But some commonly treatment practices are explained briefly below:

  • Radiation therapy: Treats a small mass of affected cells. Radiation therapy normally targets the damaged part of bone (where cancerous cells have affected bone causing severe damage). Radiation therapy includes use of high energy rays to kill and stop growth of damaged cells stopping cancer growth. ERBT (external beam radiation therapy) is the most common type of therapy done.
  • Surgery: Involves removing or repairing of a body part. It can also fix the bones that have been damaged due to Multiple Myeloma.
  • Chemotherapy: Involves the use of drugs to kill the cancer cells. It kills the fast growing cells and in some cases it also damages bone marrow.
  • Stem Cell Transplant: Stem cell transplant replaces damaged cells in bone marrow with healthy plasma cells.
  • Order of Treatments: Different patients have been given different type of treatments based on type of areas affected. But the order of treatment remains the same. The initial treatment given is known as Primary Treatment, which includes the curing the cancer after the diagnosis. This treatment is also known as an Induction Treatment. the Second step is of Maintenance Treatment, which is done to keep cancer cells suppressed.

Survival chances of Multiple Myeloma patients

Statistics can be confusing because each Multiple Myeloma case varies from patient to patient.
Survival rates are measured from the first point of treatment, such as chemotherapy. In the past, patients often could not survive even beyond the first stage of treatment because when cancer cells grow fast they cause too much damage. Since 2000 the percent of patients living five years after diagnosis has been increasing considerably, for up to 50 percent of patients.

Can Multiple Myeloma Be Cured?

For decades, multiple myeloma was considered incurable and only disease control was the goal of treatment. This was due to the fact that there were very few treatment options available.

With the introduction of high-dose therapy, stem-cell transplants, and immunomodulatory drugs, the survival rate for myeloma patients doubled when compared to the 1990s when only chemotherapy was used.

When deciding if multiple myeloma can be cured we have to define some terms:

  • Partial remission – some, but not all signs and symptoms of myeloma have disappeared
  • Remission – a decrease in or disappearance of signs and symptoms of myeloma
  • Complete remission – all signs and symptoms of myeloma have disappeared

In an article for Myeloma Crowd, Jennifer Ahlstrom says, “Does remission mean a cure? In myeloma it typically does not. Though we love the word remission, we hesitate because myeloma is known to come back after some time.”

As a myeloma patient, you may always worry about the chance of recurrence, but there is hope that you can live with long treatment-free periods with excellent quality of life.


Sources:

Multiple Myeloma Bone Marrow

Is Multiple Myeloma Hereditary? What you need to know

Normalcy and Myeloma Remission

How Side Effects Can Be Managed in Myeloma

How Side Effects Can Be Managed in Myeloma from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Beth Faiman, a nurse practitioner specializing in multiple myeloma, discusses side effects in myeloma and shares what can be done to prevent or reduce these issues in patients.

Beth Faiman is a nurse practitioner in the department of hematologic oncology at Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

Related Resources

Office Visit Planner – Myeloma

Discussing Treatment with Your Doctor: Key Questions to Ask

Diagnosed with Myeloma? An Advocate’s Key Advice

Transcript:

Beth Faiman:

In multiple myeloma, there are numerous side effects, but the most common side effects of treatment are oftentimes the lowering of blood count. So, for example, depending on which type of therapy you’re on, maybe it’s lenalidomide or carfilzomib or some others, you can get some lowering of blood count.

So, those blood counts need to be regularly monitored. Another side effect might be peripheral neuropathy. Now, that’s more common in drugs such as bortezomib or thalidomide.

And so, it’s important to look for that symptom and report if you have any numbness or tingling in your fingers or feet, or dizziness, or anything odd to your healthcare team. Because by adjusting the medication doses, then those patients can actually stay in treatment longer with better control.

Other things with the monoclonal antibodies, some of the newer drugs that are currently available will produce an increased chance of infusion reactions. Now, that’s only at the very beginning of the infusion. So, once patients have received that therapy,  they can feel comfortable to keep taking that with lesser chance of side effects.

And then, finally, many drugs with myeloma have an increased risk of blood clots. So, patients should stay active, keep well-hydrated, and know that they’re at an increased risk. Most providers will recommend a baby aspirin for all patients taking these drugs like lenalidomide, thalidomide, pomalidomide, and carfilzomib. And that’ll lessen their chance of blood clots.

The last thing I’d like to add in is an increased risk of infections. Myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells that are responsible to protect you from getting sick, and unfortunately, they don’t work. Many therapies will further weaken the immune system. So, getting a seasonal influenza vaccine, a pneumonia vaccine every five years, and making sure they take shingles prevention is a very effective way of keeping yourself healthy.

Lab Tests in Myeloma: Key Results to Monitor

Lab Tests in Myeloma: Key Results to Monitor from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Nurse practitioner, Beth Faiman, discusses laboratory tests for multiple myeloma, including which results should be monitored closely and how different labs may vary.

Beth Faiman is a nurse practitioner in the department of hematologic oncology at Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

Related Resources

Get The Best Myeloma Care NOW: A Physician’s View 

Discussing Treatment with Your Doctor: Key Questions to Ask

Overwhelmed By a Myeloma Diagnosis? The Key Steps to Take

Transcript:

Beth Faiman:

Laboratory results can be quite anxiety-provoking for some patients and others are pretty easygoing about it. One of the most important things I share with patients whether they come to see me every month, every three months, or sometimes we share care with referral providers is always take ownership of your own care.

You are your best advocate and it’s important to find out what kind of myeloma you have and what they myeloma specialist thinks is important in monitoring your labs. So, for example, there are kappa and lambda light chains, and everybody has a different form of myeloma. Find out the best way that they can monitor their myeloma. Also, key lab results like blood creatinine level, reflect kidney function, hemoglobin carries oxygen and that’s your anemia number. So, finding out those important key lab values and keeping track of them over time can help feel — patients feel empowered often times in their care.

But with that, I always have the caveat, take the results with a grain of salt because there are lab variations within one’s own institution or when you’re going outside of institutions if we partner with care. So, that can be about 20/25 percent lab error each month depending on the test result.

Lab values can fluctuate quite rapidly. So, if I draw a serum creatinine level in the morning, and it might be high indicating kidneys might not be functioning normally, I can encourage them to have some hydration or — and then recheck that lab value and it might go down. The same with the serum-free light chains and M-Spikes.

The lab variation within a single day can be very, very, very diverse. So, it’s important to say, hey gosh, it’s abnormal one day or one hour of the day, but then the next time it can be normal. Or normal for you a well, because there are normal values for one patient that’s abnormal for the other, and vice-versa.

Key Considerations When Choosing Myeloma Treatment: What’s Available?

 

Key Considerations When Choosing Myeloma Treatment: What’s Available? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Beth Faiman, a nurse practitioner specializing in multiple myeloma at the Cleveland Clinic, shares tips for making treatment decisions and discusses the evolution of myeloma therapy in recent years. Need help speaking up? Download the Office Visit Planner and bring it to your next appointment here.

Beth Faiman is a nurse practitioner in the department of hematologic oncology at Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

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Related Resources

    

The Benefits of Seeking a Second Opinion in Myeloma

Find Your Voice Myeloma Resource Guide

Overwhelmed By a Myeloma Diagnosis? The Key Steps to Take

Transcript:

Beth Faiman:

There are so many treatment options, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so important for patients to at least seek an opinion once or twice with a myeloma specialist because treatment changes so rapidly. We have over 20 medications that are approved for the management of myeloma and so the patients need to figure out what’s important for them.

Oftentimes you think, father knows best or doctor knows best. And I hear from time to time that you’re the doctor, you should know what is best for me. But I say, “I understand what might be the best treatment for you in terms of response rate, but we have to balance quality and quantity of life. What are the things that you’re willing and your family’s willing to accept for treatment?”

Do you want to undergo a stem cell transplant which maybe takes you out of commission for a couple of months? Or take an oral therapy every day or an IV therapy intermittently? So, there are oftentimes more than one decision, and this is what we like to practice at my institution. It’s called shared decision making where you have a partnership between the patient and their caregiver, and the healthcare team and we work together to mutually decide what’s best for that patient.

So, sometimes just really trying to get that cure or eliminate the myeloma cell clone as best as possible might not be the right answer now, especially if you’re a single mom or a single dad or caring for a loved one. But maybe that might be a future goal. So, having that conversation is so important. And patients should feel empowered to be able to have that conversation with their healthcare team because if they don’t, then maybe they need to see a different doctor or specialist so they can feel comfortable with them.

I am so excited about all the new classes of drugs that are so — that are currently available. When I started managing myeloma in 1994 or 1995 there was only stem cell transplant and maybe melphalan or Cytoxan, and those drugs were not very effective in controlling the disease. I’m now able to mix and match treatments and give patients different opportunities to meet these milestones. You know, patients were so worried about not being here in two or three years, and now it’s 20 years later. So, forming those relationships and keeping them living healthy longer is so important.

We now have drugs available that can have the possibility of achieving what’s called minimal residual disease or MRD, where we’re eliminating in the bone marrow, the myeloma clone

That was unheard of five years ago even. So now we have the BiTE therapies and CAR T-Cell therapies, and some of the newer drug classes that will hopefully have a functional cure.

People ask me what a cure in myeloma is, and hopefully, we’ll have a real cure. But, living out your normal life span compared to people that don’t have myeloma, and really enjoying life as you do it. So, I always tell patients don’t forget about health maintenance and checking cholesterols, looking for secondary cancers, keep a primary care provider on hand because as a team, we can all work together, to have you live your best life as possible.

Diagnosed with Myeloma? Why to See a Specialist and What to Expect

 

Diagnosed with Myeloma? Why to See a Specialist and What to Expect from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Beth Faiman, a nurse practitioner specializing in multiple myeloma, provides insight into her relationships with patients and the importance of seeking a second opinion with a specialist, even for just a single consultation.

Beth Faiman is a nurse practitioner in the department of hematologic oncology at Cleveland Clinic. More about this expert here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

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Multiple Myeloma Office Visit Planner

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What is Personalized Medicine?

Transcript:

Beth Faiman:

So, my role in treating patients with multiple myeloma is very variable. So, I am a member of a treatment team. I have doctors that I work with, as well as nurses, other nurse practitioners, and social workers.

Sometimes I’m the first face that patients will see when they come to the cancer center. And hopefully, I’ll be fortunate to follow them along with their treatment trajectory.

Some of the other things that I do for patients who have multiple myeloma  — I’m involved in the diagnosis and management of their care. I am responsible for obtaining and reviewing their laboratory results at each visit, and if they have a certain symptom that needs to be controlled, I am oftentimes the one that they call or reach out to for some answers.

I think it’s very important for patients to meet with a myeloma specialist at least once. I understand there are a lot of barriers from transportation to finances to just not feeling comfortable with going to an outside institution. But working at a major center which focuses on multiple myeloma for the last 20-plus years, I can really see the value in even just getting an opinion.

So, one of the things I try to encourage is for patients to come and meet with us once or twice because not only are we educating the community physician, but we’re also partnering in their care. So, if they’re getting an injection once or twice weekly, we can see them every couple months, review their laboratory values, and they can get care closer to home. And so, there’s that partnership that forms and then you’re not only educating the patient, but you’re oftentimes educating the community physician or provider that might only see one or two myeloma patients in a year.

So, when patients come to me all they know is that they’re in a cancer center. Oftentimes they have to go on whatever information they’ve been told. I see consultations independently at the Cleveland Clinic so sometimes they’ve been told by their outside physician or nurse practitioner that they might have a blood cancer. Sometimes they fall into a category of patients that have what’s called MGUS or monoclonal gammopathy, so these individuals might not even need treatment forever.

Others might have what’s called smoldering myeloma, which is a different second level, and those patients might need treatment within two to five years. But for those that have been told they have multiple myeloma, there’s a myriad of emotions, and oftentimes I like to take time, share with them first what I know about their case, get time to know them on a one-on-one basis. What they like, what they don’t like, what they do for a living, their hobbies. Because you’re building a relationship.

You might be with that patient for many, many years. So, taking the time to let them know what I know about their case, finding out about themselves, and then pooling it all together with what we need to do now, with this information is oftentimes a good way to start a relationship with the patient and their caregiver.

Evolving Approaches to Myeloma Treatment: Staying Up-to-Date

 

Evolving Approaches to Myeloma Treatment: How to Stay Up-to-Date from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Multiple myeloma research is fast-moving and showing promise. Dr. Peter Forsberg, a myeloma specialist, provides an overview of the changing treatment landscape and shares resources for keeping up with the latest news. Need help speaking up? Download the Office Visit Planner and bring it to your next appointment here.

Dr. Peter Forsberg is assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is a specialist in multiple myeloma. More about Dr. Forsberg here.

See More From The Pro-Active Myeloma Patient Toolkit

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Find Your Voice Myeloma
Resource Guide

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Transcript:

Dr. Peter Forsberg:

I think research in multiple myeloma remains a really active area. It’s been a major evolution over the past 20 years. Myeloma’s been one of the real success stories of modern oncology in terms of how much research has translated into improved options for patients.

But, many new things continue to evolve. It can be challenging to feel like you’re abreast of what’s going on. I think there are great resources for patients. Organizations like the International Myeloma Foundation, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, or Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are good places for patients to start.

I also think that social media can be useful although those types of things can be a bit of a double-edged sword. I certainly find lots of things out via Twitter, and I think there’s a pretty active myeloma community in some of those areas, but you have to be a little bit careful about where you point your attention when you’re interacting with the internet. I think there can be lots of places where you might get less up to date or less thorough information and that can sometimes be concerning or challenging for patients So, I do think it is great that we have tools, but it is important to be thoughtful about how you approach them and trying to find good, reliable resources in that regard.

 I think there’s a lot of really exciting things on the horizon. That’s gonna include using tools that we have in better ways. I think we’re gonna be expanding our approaches to how we treat newly diagnosed patients. It looks like we’ll be starting to use four-drug regimens in patients with newly-diagnosed myeloma in the near future, hopefully with ever-improving results. We’re gonna be more cutting edge in terms of how we test and measure disease, using things like minimal-residual disease testing in different and expanded ways.

And then there’s a number of immunotherapeutic treatments especially that are looking very promising in relapsed myeloma.

That includes CAR T-Cell therapies, bispecific monoclonal antibodies, and antibody drug conjugates, all of them look like really promising approaches and really new things that hopefully in the not-distant future are gonna expand our toolbox for how we’re able to help maintain and improve life for patients with multiple myeloma.