ASH Clinical News ACN_4.4_SUPP_Digital Version | Page 31

A Curative Strategy for High-Risk Smoldering Multiple
Myeloma?
In a phase II trial of patients with previously untreated
smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM), the combination of
carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone, followed
by autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT)
and consolidation therapy, led to an overall response rate
of 98 percent, with nearly half of patients experiencing a
complete response (CR).
“This curative approach for high-risk SMM seems to be
encouraging,” said María-Victoria Mateos, MD, PhD, from the
University Hospital of Salamanca in Spain, during her pre-
sentation of results from the multicenter, open-label, phase II
GEM-CESAR trial at the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.
The study enrolled 90 patients with SMM at high risk of
progression (defined as bone marrow [BM] plasma cells [PCs]
≥10% and serum M-protein ≥3d/dL, or 95% of aberrant PCs
within the total PCs BM compartment). Patients with one or
more biomarkers predicting “imminent risk of progression to
MM” were included in GEM-CESAR,