Perspectives in the Rapidly Evolving Treatment Landscape of Multiple Myeloma: Expert Review of New Data Presentations from ASH 2019

The number and type of therapeutic options available to treat patients with multiple myeloma has risen dramatically over recent years, offering exciting opportunities to significantly improve the future management of this currently incurable disease. Some of the latest advances in the settings of newly diagnosed and relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma were presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (Orlando, Florida, December 7 to 10, 2019) and are reviewed in this article with accompanying expert commentary. Presentations covered the use of registry-generated real-world data to define the characteristics of ‘functional’ high-risk patients in order to enable early therapeutic intervention for this poor-prognosis subset; studies that reported impressive new and updated data with novel combinations of targeted agents across different settings, including biomarker-specific subgroups; and promising early-phase data with novel immunotherapeutic approaches, such as bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell B-cell maturation antigen-directed therapies. This review offers insights into how these latest developments may fit within the rapidly evolving treatment landscape. The adoption and optimal use of novel therapies may be impacted by logistical challenges such as limited funding and access to necessary infrastructure to provide these treatments. In this manuscript, we focus particularly on Asia-Pacific regions and identify areas for development, such as establishment of robust national registries, promotion of investigator-initiated trials, compassionate-use treatment programs, and collaboration between jurisdictions with similar patterns of care. The hope is that such efforts will augment research outputs and ultimately translate into improved patient outcomes in the real world.