Managing Keratopathy for Patients on BLENREP with Cristina Gasparetto, MD and Mark Newman, OD

Cristina Gasparetto, MD, Duke University
Mark Newman, OD, Optix Eye Center
Interview Date: October 4, 2021

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SUMMARY

All cancer therapies come with some type of side effect. One newly approved therapy called BLENREP, by GSK, is an antibody drug conjugate targeting BCMA that can cause a condition called keratopathy. Keratopathy is an eye condition that can be mild, so patients don't even know they have it, or it can be more severe and cause blurriness or impaired vision. Learn from myeloma specialist Dr. Cristina Gasparetto, MD from Duke University and Mark Newman, OD of OPTIX Eye Center share in this show how keratopathy can be successfully managed for patients on BLENREP.

They share the process to coordinate care between the myeloma doctor and the eye doctor, how they determine when to hold the drug or reduce the dose and share the impact of the drug on myeloma. The first piece of good news is that any changes to vision can be recovered in full when the drug is stopped. The second piece of good news is that when the drug is held, patients are still seeing durable myeloma responses. As myeloma experts gain more experience with BLENREP, using it with additional treatment combinations may change the dose and frequency to make keratophathy more manageable. 

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