Dr. Vij Discusses the Potential of Quadruplets in Myeloma

Ravi Vij, MD, MBA, professor of medicine, Division of Oncology, Section of Bone Marrow Transplant, Washington University School of Medicine, Siteman Cancer Center, discusses the potential of quadruplets in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

Vij says that the era of 4-drug treatments is imminent in myeloma. This means that the use of monoclonal antibodies as a backbone is where the field is headed. Still, Vij says that it will be some time before quadruplets best triplets in a comparative study. Adding another drug to a triplet regimen will also increase costs. However, some feel that the costs are justifiable if this is a finite therapy, Vij explains.

Currently, daratumumab (Darzalex) and elotuzumab (Empliciti) are both being explored in frontline trials, but the data are still preliminary. An interim safety analysis of daratumumab added to the triplet of lenalidomide (Revlimid) with bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone was presented at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting. These data concluded that there were no added safety signals with the addition of daratumumab to the triplet.