Sagar Lonial, MD Winship Cancer Institute Interview Date: July 19, 2017

Recent meetings held this summer had important updates in multiple myeloma therapy. Renown myeloma expert Sagar Lonial, MD of the Winship Cancer Institute joins Myeloma Crowd Radio to share the latest in developments for newly diagnosed, relapsed/refractory, elderly and high-risk patients.  He stressed the importance of using both the immunomodulator and proteasome inhibitors in combinations - typically in triplets as induction therapy. Dr. Lonial also stressed the need to keep stem cell transplant in the mix of therapies to potentially get the "cure fraction" of patients to a higher percentage. He noted the introduction of quad therapies - or the addition of one of the monoclonal antibodies - and the need to balance treatment with toxicities. The nice part about adding a drug like elotuzumab or daratumumab is greater impact with minimal extra toxicities. He noted the excitement around the CAR T cell therapies with BCMA as a target. He emphasized the need for genetic testing at the beginning of diagnosis because he sets a 5-10 year strategy for his patients based on their type of myelolma. For high-risk patients, this would mean a longer maintenance period. 

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