ASH 2017: Adding Daratumumab to VMP in Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma
Posted: Friday, December 15, 2017
Adding the monoclonal antibody daratumumab to the bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone (VMP) combination therapy reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 50% compared with VMP alone in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma who were ineligible for transplant. These data from the phase III ALCYONE trial were presented by Maria Victoria-Mateos, MD, PhD, of the University Hospital of Salamanca, Spain, and colleagues, at the 2017 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition (Abstract LBA-4).
In the open-label study, 706 patients were randomized to either daratumumab and VMP (n=350) or VMP alone (n=356). Median progression-free survival was not reached with the daratumumab regimen, compared with 18.1 months for VMP alone.
Improvements in response rates were seen with the addition of daratumumab: the objective response rate was 90.9% versus 73.9% in the control arm, including a complete response or better in 42.6% of patients versus 24.4% with VMP alone. A very good partial response or better was achieved in 71% of the daratumumab group versus 50% for VMP alone. Additionally, the number of patients who tested negative for minimal residual disease was tripled in the group treated with daratumumab: 22.3% versus 6.2% with VMP alone.
According to the investigators, these results support the use of the daratumumab/VMP regimen this patient population.
