Dr. Jakubowiak Discusses the Future of Multiple Myeloma Treatment

Andrzej Jakubowiak, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, director, Myeloma Program, University of Chicago Medicine, discusses the current and future state of multiple myeloma treatment.

Over the last 10 years, multiple myeloma has made one of the most impressive advances in treatment with prolongations of remissions and life. Recent research has shown a threefold increase of life expectancy compared to 10 years ago, Jakubowiak says.

Jakubowiak says in the last 10 years, 2 proteasome inhibitors and 3 immunomodulatory drugs have been approved. These drugs can be combined in order to elicit great responses and great improvements in progression-free survivals. However, physicians may not be able to make more improvements with these current drugs.

Now, researchers are looking into a group of antibodies that may help enhance the ability to treat the disease and increase to life expectancy of patients with myeloma.