Specialist Referrals Are Critical for Functional High-Risk Multiple Myeloma

For patients with functional high-risk multiple myeloma, timely referral to specialized centers is needed, since access to T-cell therapies and clinical trials may improve outcomes, according to a prospective, observational study presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Sandra Susanibar-Adaniya, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, discusses the results of the CoMMpass study.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

We presented an analysis of the CoMMpass database analyzing the outcomes for patients with functional high-risk multiple myeloma, because we wanted to answer the question, what happened with these patients that they were a standard-risk disease but ended up relapsing pretty early? So if that was different to those who are traditionally classified as high-risk myeloma.

So what we found out and presented yesterday was that either patients if they were high risk at diagnosis or standard risk at diagnosis, if they relapse early, within 12 months after the stem cell transplant, or within 12 months of starting treatment for myeloma, they have bad outcomes like an overall survival that was only 19 months, highlighting the need for them to be really included in the clinical trials for early relapse with medications that are highly effective.

But if a patient is not a candidate for a clinical trial, what we wanted to highlight for the community oncologist is that they need a rapid referral to a myeloma center like ours, so they can be evaluated for maybe a life-changing treatment that could be CAR T cells or another modality.

I think that the important thing is that, do not hesitate to send one of these patients that surprisingly had a bad outcome after starting initial therapy to a myeloma specialist because, as of this time, we have so many options. So we think that these patients could do well with one of the novel T cell-engaging therapies, that it could be a CAR T cell or bispecific antibody, and maybe this patient could be also a candidate for a clinical trial. So that way, what was traditionally a patient who will do bad might have a better outcome.