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New drug shows promise in treating multiple myeloma in early trials results

A new immunotherapy drug modakafusp-alfa has shown early potential in combating multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, researchers who presented the study findings, sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, during the 2022 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting said.

The findings of the trial, which was carried out by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center, showed that 43% of multiple myeloma patients who received 1.5 milligrams of the drug once every four weeks recorded a 50% drop in their cancer, researchers said.

For the study, the researchers recruited patients who had received at least three therapies for their conditions but whose cancer recurred despite treatments.

Commenting on the findings of the trial, Dr Dan Vogl, an expert in blood cancers, medical director of the Clinical Research Unit at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, and an associate professor of Hematology-Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, who presented the study said, “We are excited by these findings and continue to be optimistic about the potential this treatment holds for patients with multiple myeloma.”

Pointing out that the research team has been working with this new medication since giving it to the first patient ever to receive it five years ago, Dr Vogl added, “We now see that a substantial number of patients benefit from modakafusp as a single agent, including patients whose myeloma has become resistant to other treatments, which is really impressive.”

The drug developed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals is a fusion protein that targets interferon, a pro-inflammatory hormone, which is also used for treating viral infections and other cancers, to cells that have CD38, a surface marker present on myeloma cells and a variety of immune cells.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2022, it expects multiple myeloma, which affects about 1% of the population, may claim about 12,640 lives in the United States, with no current cure available.

The researchers said that in this trial, modakafusp made a positive difference in people for whom well-established monoclonal antibodies, drugs including daratumumab and isatuximab, were no longer effective.

“Modakafusp has a truly novel mechanism of action, delivering a hormonal signal directly to target cells that simultaneously is toxic to cancer cells while stimulating an immune response,” Dr Vogl said.

“We saw responses in patients whose cancer did not respond to or who experienced a relapse after receiving the anti-CD38 antibody drugs that are currently on the market,” he added.

“We also saw responses in patients whose myeloma had developed resistance to all currently available effective therapies.”


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