Dr. Thompson on Challenges Facing the Field of Multiple Myeloma

Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, medical director, precision medicine, Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, Aurora Health Care, discusses some of the challenges facing the field of multiple myeloma.

Understanding which combinations of the recently approved drugs to use is one of the challenges facing the myeloma field, explains Thompson. The expensive cost of these new drugs is another adversity that the field is facing in the upcoming year.

Patients using these drugs are living longer, introducing rare issues such as central nervous system (CNS) myeloma and extramedullary disease. Investigators are also currently researching minimal residual disease (MRD), so it is still unknown how quickly it can be transitioned into clinical practice.