What should a patient consider when choosing a treatment option?
Due to the breadth of new myeloma therapies that have come out in the last decade or so, the mode of administration is quite different amongst them.
So we have several oral options. We have several fusion of options, we have subcutaneous options. And then there's various combinations of all these medications.
So when we're thinking about optimal therapy from a patient perspective, I do think quality of life considerations need to come into play.
That could simply be travel-related. A lot of patients travel from far away to get some of these infusions.
And I think if a potential oral therapy can get them the same benefit with, let's say, a different toxicity profile, that may be preferred as long as the patient and physician are on the same page when it comes to the likelihood of benefit they may receive from an oral or oral therapy, for example, which is an infusion therapy.
I also think toxicity from prior therapy is an important consideration from a patient perspective.
What I see, not uncommonly, is patients that have had peripheral neuropathy from prior bortezomib exposure. A lot of times it's become a part of their lives. They've spent the last several years managing that. And whether that's with medications or other methods.
And at that time, I feel like sometimes they kind of downplay the impact that might be having on their quality of life.
So it's important for the patient to communicate with the physician to let us know what they feel day to day.
And because we do have many options now, we could potentially limit or progress further symptoms from developing as they may impact quality of life going forward.
In HealthTree, you can learn about the treatment options that are available to you and other things to consider when choosing a treatment on the My Treatment Options page, you can also track the side effects you experience with each treatment on the Treatments and Outcomes page.
HealthTree • July 4, 2019