Researchers at The University of Alabama at Birmingham are recruiting for a phase 2 clinical trial designed to offer an innovative treatment approach for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.
“I believe for the first time that we have treatments that are effective enough to make it possible to eradicate multiple myeloma definitively in a substantial proportion of patients, along with having the technology to detect that the disease has been targeted and treatment can be stopped,” Luciano Costa, MD, PhD, medical oncologist at The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and lead of the Hematologic-Malignancy Working Group, said in a press release. “That is what patients want, after all — a treatment that gives them the possibility of eliminating any trace of the myeloma without having to be on therapy for the rest of their lives. It is a bold move, but bold moves are what our patients deserve.”
HemOnc Today spoke with Costa about the rationale behind this trial, how it will be conducted, a timeline for completion and data availability, and the potential importance of the findings if the trial approach is proven successful.