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Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Friday, January 19, 2024
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Oncology Research Program has awarded approximately $5 million in grants to four projects evaluating the efficacy of elranatamab-bcmm in the treatment of multiple myeloma. These grants come with support from Pfizer Global Medical Grants.
“The aim of this initiative is to fund studies that will expand the growing body of evidence on the use of elranatamab to help advance treatment of patients with multiple myeloma,” explained Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, Chief Executive Officer of NCCN. “Congratulations to these dedicated investigators. Their research will help further our understanding of how to optimize care for people with multiple myeloma.”
Elranatamab has been granted accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of relapsed or refractory myeloma after results from the single-arm phase II MagnetisMM-3 trial. The study looked at the efficacy of the B-cell maturation agent (BCMA)-directed bispecific antibody in patients with prior treatment of at least one proteosome inhibitor, one immunomodulatory agent, and one anti-CD38 antibody.
Proposals were submitted to and peer reviewed by a scientific review committee made up of oncologists from NCCN Member Institutions. The four projects selected are being led by David Avigan, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston; Ah-Reum Jeong, MD, of the University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center; Michael Slade, MD, of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis; and Attaya Suvannasankha, MD, of Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center, Indianapolis.
The focus of Dr. Avigan’s project is the effectiveness of a personalized cancer vaccine in conjunction with elranatamab in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Dr. Jeong’s project is a phase II measurable residual disease (MRD)-adapted study of elranatamab in relapsed or resistant multiple myeloma. The focus of Dr. Slade’s project is MRD-guided post-transplant elranatamab maintenance using peripheral blood clonotypic mass spectrometry. The focus of Dr. Suvannasankha’s project is response-guided treatment discontinuation of elranatamab in frail or elderly patients.
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