Treatment patterns and outcomes in real-world transplant-ineligible patients newly diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

Despite the significant proportion of older patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM), most clinical trials driving therapeutic decisions in routine practice include younger and presumably healthier patients than those in the real world. Furthermore, longitudinal studies suggest that elderly, transplant-ineligible patients with MM are not benefitting enough from new anti-MM agents. We retrospectively analyzed the profile of and treatment patterns and outcomes in 675 transplant-ineligible patients with MM who started frontline therapy in routine practice.

Recent Advances in the Treatment of Patients with Multiple Myeloma.

In the past 20 years, few diseases have seen as great progress in their treatment as multiple myeloma. With the approval of many new drugs and the limited availability of clinical trials comparing head-to-head the different possible combinations, the choice of the best treatments at each stage of the disease becomes complex as well as crucial since multiple myeloma remains incurable. This article presents a general description of the novelties of the whole treatment of multiple myeloma, from induction in the newly diagnosed patient through the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and maintenance treatment until early and late relapses, including a section on recently approved drugs as well as novel drugs and immunotherapy in advanced stages of research, and that will surely play a relevant role in the treatment of this devastating disease in the coming years.

The safety of daratumumab for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

The overall survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) has changed dramatically in the last decade. MM remains an incurable plasma cell disorder but immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) has emerged as a promising treatment. Areas covered: Fully published, clinical trials including patients with relapsed or refractory MM were reviewed.

Which therapies will move to the front line for multiple myeloma?

Despite substantial progress, multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease. Recently the availability of several novel drugs with different and innovative mechanisms of action (daratumumab, elotuzumab, carfilzomib, ixazomib, and panobinostat) has increased the therapeutic options but has also increased complexity in the management of patients with MM. Areas covered: The outstanding results observed in the relapsed setting with regimens including these new drugs has provided the investigators with several treatment options that are being tested also in patients with newly diagnosed MM.

Infectious complications in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: A complication from the past?

Infectious complications are an important risk factor for early mortality in patients with multiple myeloma. However, data about the impact and severity of infections in these patients in the era of new therapies have not been properly analyzed. This review has reviewed the incidence and severity of infections complications and infection-related mortality during induction treatment in patients with newly diagnosed myeloma receiving regimens with new drugs within randomized trials.

Clinical treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The introduction of the novel agents, thalidomide, bortezomib and lenalidomide as part of the frontline induction both in transplant and non-transplant candidates have markedly improved the anti-myeloma efficacy of the different therapeutic regimens and improved patients' prognosis. Current treatment goals are aimed to further improve the rate of complete remission, time to progression, progression-free survival and overall survival without increasing toxicity. Besides, different strategies are being developed in the elderly population as this group of patients requires a closer monitoring with individualized, dose-modified regimens to improve tolerability while maintaining their quality of life.

Front-line lenalidomide therapy in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.

The availability of novel drugs with different and innovative mechanisms of action such as proteasome inhibitors such as bortezomib and immunomdulatory agents as thalidomide and lenalidomide have changed the landscape of the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, allowing the development of several new therapeutic regimens both for transplant-eligible and -ineligible patients. Among these new agents, lenalidomide has become one of the most commonly used in these patients. In this article, we review the current state-of-the-art of different induction and maintenance lenalidomide-containing regimens administered in transplant-eligible and -ineligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.