Evaluating outcomes of daratumumab, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone followed by high dose chemotherapy and ASCT for unresponsive multiple myeloma.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of DPd (daratumumab, pomalidomide, and dexamethasone) as salvage therapy followed by high dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for relapsed/refractory (RR) multiple myeloma (MM). The study concluded that this therapy is effective and well tolerated for patients with RRMM.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is cancer that begins in plasma cells, a kind of white blood cell. MM accounts for 10% of all blood cancers. The development of new treatment options for treating MM has significantly improved patient survival over the past years.

Despite new treatment options, relapses have been common in these patients. Therefore, there is need for the development of more effective salvage therapies (treatments given after previous therapies fail). Newer medications including proteasome inhibitors (PIs) such as pomalidomide (Pomalyst), and immunotherapies, such as daratumumab (Darzalex) may be used. The safety and effectiveness of DPd followed by strong chemotherapy and ASCT in patients with RRMM are still under investigation.

This study involved 18 patients with RRMM. Patients had previously received an average of 2 treatments. All patients received an average of 4 cycles of DPd as salvage therapy followed by HDCT and ASCT. The average follow-up time was 30 months.

On day 180 after HDCT and ASCT, all patients (100%) had a response to therapy. 67% of patients had a complete response. 83.3% of patients were alive without disease worsening after 2 years. 94.4% of patients were alive after 2 years.

No treatment-related mortality was reported by day 100 and 180. 33.3% of patients had mild infusion-related reactions to daratumumab such as cough and shortness of breath.

The study concluded that DPd therapy, followed by HDCT and ASCT is effective and well tolerated in patients with RRMM.

This study included a small number of patients from medical records. There was no comparison group. Further, large studies are needed to confirm these findings.