Dr. Raje on the Efficacy of Belantamab Mafodotin in Multiple Myeloma

Noopur Raje, MD, director, Center for Multiple Myeloma, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the utility of belantamab mafodotin (GSK2857916) in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

Belantamab mafodotin is a BCMA-targeted antibody-drug conjugate that uses monomethyl auristatin F as its toxic payload, says Raje.

In January 2020, the FDA granted a priority review designation to a biologics license application (BLA) for belantamab mafodotin for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma who received prior therapy with an immunomodulatory drug, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 antibody. The BLA is based on data from the phase II DREAMM-2 study, in which the agent led to an overall response rate (ORR) of 31% in patients with relapsed/refractory disease.

Prior to this, the DREAMM-1 study demonstrated a 60% ORR and a median progression-free survival of 12 months with single-agent belantamab mafodotin.

These data speak to the effectiveness of BCMA-targeted agents in the space, says Raje.

Notably, the drug has been associated with ocular toxicities, says Raje. Alternative dosing schedules may mitigate this and allow patients to stay on treatment, Raje concludes.