Dr. Fonseca on Pivotal Trials in Multiple Myeloma

Rafael Fonseca, MD, professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, discusses some of the ongoing and recently presented clinical trials that could be potentially practice changing for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma during the 2016 OncLive State of the Science Summit on Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies.

Many ongoing trials are using a backbone of lenalidomide/dexamethasone plus another agent. Previously, the backbone was bortezomib (Velcade) plus dexamethasone with an added treatment, Fonseca explains. These include the addition of proteasome inhibitors such as carfilzomib (Kyprolis) and ixazomib (Ninlaro), as well as monoclonal antibodies such as elotuzumab (Empliciti) and daratumumab (Darzalex).

In the POLLUX trial, which looked at daratumumab plus lenalidomide/dexamethasone, up to 43% of patients achieved a complete response, he adds, with a median duration of disease control that has not yet been reach.