Dr. Krishnan on Key Aspects of the ELOQUENT Trials in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Amrita Krishnan, MD, director of the Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research and a professor in the Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, discusses key aspects of the phase III ELOQUENT-2 and -3 trials in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

ELOQUENT-2, published in 2015, evaluated the addition of elotuzumab (Empliciti) to the combination of lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma. Lenalidomide and dexamethasone served as the control arm. Results showed a significant progression-free survival (PFS) advantage with elotuzumab, as well as a well-tolerated toxicity profile, says Krishnan.

In the randomized phase II ELOQUENT-3 trial, elotuzumab was combined with pomalidomide (Pomalyst) and dexamethasone and compared with pomalidomide and dexamethasone alone. These results also conferred a PFS advantage with the addition of elotuzumab. Specifically, researchers reported a PFS of approximately 10.3 months in the elotuzumab arm versus 4.7 months in the doublet arm. This came as a welcome surprise to the community, says Krishnan, especially in a setting of patients who had received a median of 3 prior regimens.