My wife, Robin, and I are grateful to have been attending the annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meetings with the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) since the early 2000’s.

Time is fleeting, Time is precious, Time is not always on our side. But with Time, our tireless myeloma researchers and doctors remain steadfast and unwavering in their dedication to find new and better treatment options. Options that have better quality of life, better progression-free survival, which extends our Time to next treatment and enhances our Time from diagnosis to Hope!

When I had my autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) in 2002, there were very few additional options available. I worried that I had already used up my best option only 2 years after diagnosis. I had prepared for ASCT with high dose dex alone; 40 milligrams of dex 4 days on and 4 days off, for 6 months. It worked, but at a cost to my body and sanity. Flash forward to how dex is used today, and there are now trials that show low-dose dex (40 milligrams once a week) works with less side effects! Dex continues to have a synergistic effect as it enhances the efficacy of all myeloma treatments, but today, at lower doses. Dr. Joseph Mikhael has a favorite saying of #DownWithDex ! I’m all for that!

Here’s a Timeline of myeloma treatment approvals through the years . . . so perhaps Time can be on our side!

A few abstracts that I look forward to are the following:
Saturday, December 2: 9:30 – 11:00 am:

652. Multiple Myeloma: Clinical and Epidemiological: T Cell Redirecting Therapy Outcomes and Associated Complications
My myeloma specialist, Ruben Niesvizky, MD, Weill Cornell will be moderating this session. The abstracts in this session investigate real-world outcomes of T cell redirecting therapy. As a 23-year survivor, I’m always interested in understanding how new therapies work, especially “real world” outcomes. As these therapies move through trials and hopefully to the FDA-approval process, and once approved, that’s where we learn even more.

Monday, December 11: 4:30 – 6:00 pm:
1012 Results from the Completed Dose Escalation Portion of the Phase 1 Study of HPN217, a Half-Life Extended Tri-Specific T Cell Activating Construct (TriTAC) Targeting B Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA) for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma
A T-cell engager contains three binding domains, including (1) Anti BCMA, for cell binding (2) Anti Albumin for half-life extension, and (3) Anti CD3 for T-cell activation.

The science of T-cell engagers fascinates me. I am also looking forward to any T-cell engagers used up-front. We are fortunate to have many options today in our very real myeloma world.

If you’ve followed my blogs in the past, you may remember that I like to have some fun and associate my blogs with music. This blog is about Time and how myeloma treatment has changed over Time, reminds me of the Pink Floyd song “Time”.

Enjoy listening here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2tZNOQWAA