Monday, Dec. 11 was another busy day. Lots of presentations which I’ll summarize below:
Teclistamab retrospective of its use in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) showed infections, particularly respiratory infections, also liver problems. I’m guessing I’ll never be able to tolerate this! But it’ll be good for lots of other patients. It has been FDA-approved, and the brand name is TECVAYL™I.
Talquetamab is another bispecific from Janssen (as is the drug above). The presentation by Dr. Ajai Chari noted that oddly enough, those who experienced early adverse events had better responses. It seems the warnings should include “No pain, no gain.”.This drug is also FDA-approved, and it is called TALVEY™. There’s gonna be a lot of confusion among patients and healthcare providers with this one!
There were quite a few presentations about CAR T treatments. One noted that a high ferritin level was associated with shorter PFS and OS. This really made me realize that for every study, every interesting finding yields data to help the patient, but also leads to many more questions, like why does high ferritin correlate with poor outcomes with CAR T?
I have some brief (incomplete) notes about 3 new drugs in phase 1/2 trials: sonrotoclax + dex for patients with t(11;14) was “well-tolerated.” I put that last bit in quotes because what the physician says is well tolerated, may not be exactly how the patient would describe the side effects.
Two more mentions: HPN217 is a trispecific in phase 1 trial. Mezigdomide (called mezi by those in the know) plus dex is in phase I/II trials. It is a CELMoD.
These ASH days have been so interesting! I shared quite a bit with my support group on Wednesday, and they were really excited about the prospect of so many new therapies. I’m so grateful to our sponsors for making it possible for me and my other support group leaders to attend ASH and bring it all back to our groups. I feel better educated about the future of myeloma through this conference. I’m sending a HUGE thank you to Bristol Myers Squibb, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals/Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Takeda Oncology.
— Barb Davis
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