THE MMRF
ANSWER FUND
Addressing the Most Pressing Questions
About Myeloma
Last year, the MMRF launched the
Answer Fund, a multimillion dollar effort
to address important questions facing
members of the multiple myeloma
community and to help advance
precision medicine. It will use the vast
amounts of data collected as part of
the MMRF CoMMpass Study SM and
other data sets to answer these critical
questions and to identify new targets
for improved treatment of myeloma —
an effort that will have an immediate
impact on patients’ lives.
The first question is how to define
and treat high-risk patients. Despite
the tremendous progress made and
the many new treatments approved in
the past few years, the data show that
nearly 20 percent of multiple myeloma
patients pass away within three years
of diagnosis.
The MMRF asked top researchers
to submit proposals that would use
CoMMpass and other data to identify
markers for high-risk myeloma. The
projects will be collaborative among
multiple institutions, which will share
data and results.
Community Questions
In an innovative way, the second
component directly solicits questions
from the myeloma community —
patients, caregivers, doctors and
researchers. In late 2017, the MMRF
reached out to community members
and asked them to post questions on
an online platform. In the end, the
question that received the most votes
was about maintenance therapy: whether
or not myeloma patients should be on it
and, if so, what kind and how much. This
question is the focus of another research
project, and the MMRF is in the process
of identifying the researchers who will
answer it.
Future Collaboration
The next partnership will be with
hematologists and oncologists who work
directly with myeloma patients — we
want to know their biggest challenges
and find a way to solve them. This
revolutionary process to focus scientific
research will enable the MMRF to
better use the data gathered through
CoMMpass to ensure that the future of
myeloma treatments will impact patients
in the most beneficial way.
Unraveling the Mystery of High-Risk Myeloma
The two teams to study the first Answer Fund question:
Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD,
and his team at Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute, University of Florida Health
Cancer Center and TGen will use CRISPR
gene-editing technology and data from
CoMMpass to understand the function
of genes associated with high-risk
myeloma and whether these genes might
be good targets for drug therapies.
6
Lawrence Boise, PhD, from Emory
University leads a project that will use
CoMMpass data to study a high-risk
gene pattern seen in some patients
who relapse within 12 to 18 months
of treatment and to determine whether
this pattern could be a target for the
treatment of high-risk disease.
Th eM M R F.org