Zahra Mahmoudjafari, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FHOPA

Panelists discuss how clinical trials in multiple myeloma can be improved to better reflect real-world scenarios and patient outcomes, emphasizing the importance of end points such as progression-free survival, overall survival, and quality of life measures, while also considering ways to increase trial inclusivity and applicability to diverse patient populations.

Panelists discuss how the introduction of triplet therapy prior to transplant in studies like IFM 2009 and DETERMINATION shifted the clinician mindset toward more intensive induction regimens, leading to a focus on achieving deeper responses and longer progression-free survival as primary goals of therapy for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients.

Panelists discuss how various patient characteristics, including age, fitness level, cytogenetic risk, and comorbidities, influence their decision to use more intensive quadruplet regimens like D-VRd (daratumumab plus bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone) vs standard triplet regimens, such as VRd or KRd (carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone) in transplant-eligible multiple myeloma patients, while also considering administration logistics and supportive care requirements

Panelists discuss how transplant eligibility significantly influences first-line treatment goals and initial therapy selection in multiple myeloma, often leading to more intensive induction regimens aimed at achieving deep remissions.

Panelists discuss how their institutions approach frontline treatment for transplant-eligible multiple myeloma patients, typically using a combination of novel agents like proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, followed by autologous stem cell transplantation and maintenance therapy, while considering factors such as patient characteristics and treatment response to guide therapy sequencing.

Panelists discuss how the current first-line treatment options for transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) typically involve combination therapies including proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, and steroids.

In her first Editor’s Note as editor in chief of PPFO, Zahra Mahmoudjafari shares reflections on a summer filled with conferences.