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Precursor conditions: management of smoldering myeloma

“Right now, smoldering myeloma is a heterogenous disease and the question is can we improve on the risk stratification that we have? Now, the 20/2/20 is a wonderful model because it’s clinically significant, it’s easy and you can apply it anywhere in the clinic, but can we improve on it, can we add to it, so that indeed our patients can have that better risk stratification for themselves and for us to say who should really be treated on a clinical trial?”
– Irene Ghobrial

“We have to be sure that we are treating the right population, those in which the progression risk is at least 50-60% in the next two years.”
– Maria-Victoria Mateos

Screening programs for plasma cell disorders

“As we start thinking we should treat smoldering myeloma and we can make a difference in the treatment of smoldering myeloma you start saying well, are we finding those patients incidentally? Is it by pure luck that one person was diagnosed with smoldering myeloma and now is being treated early and can we prevent that?”
– Irene Ghobrial

“I truly think that if we screen just like in the PROMISE study or in the iStopMM study in Iceland we can make a difference in the survival of myeloma. And some day we may never actually diagnose a patient with active disease because we find it early through screening, which is very simple – a blood test – and we diagnose them and intercept early when they still do not have any symptoms. And that could be the way to cure myeloma.”
– Irene Ghobrial

The new era of myeloma therapies

“We are observing great results with novel immunotherapy approaches like cell therapy. And today in myeloma, BCMA-targeted therapy is really very effective. Especially because they are being evaluated throughout CAR-Ts or bispecific antibodies in the unmet population triple-refractory to PI, IMiDs and anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies.”
– Maria-Victoria Mateos

“From my point of view, the next step is to move these novel therapies earlier on because the immune system of the patients is going to be more preserved, and the results will be better. And eve, we can go with them into the first-line therapy in order to get curative approaches for patients with myeloma.”
– Maria-Victoria Mateos

Women in myeloma

“Medical schools, especially here in Europe are full of women and I will encourage them not only to be dedicated to the clinical practice. They have to invest their time also in clinical research, in translational research, in basic research, because at the end of the day you can translate all results you have in the lab to the patients.”
– Maria-Victoria Mateos

“Women can really lead the field, and not be just part of it, but indeed actually change the field, and you can see from many examples.”
– Irene Ghobrial