MIAMI, FL – A novel antibody therapy, linvoseltamab, has demonstrated complete remission in 18 patients with multiple myeloma at the Sylvester myeloma Institute, researchers announced today.The treatment offers a potential alternative to the standard high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant regimen,and early results suggest the possibility of long-term disease control.
Multiple myeloma, a cancer arising from plasma cells, currently has no established cure. Most newly diagnosed patients receive a combination of three or four drugs, but the disease frequently recurs even after aggressive treatment including transplants pioneered in 1983.
“Normally, patients like these would receive high-dose chemotherapy and need a transplant,” explained Dickran Kazandjian of the Sylvester Myeloma Institute. “Rather, we gave them a treatment with the drug linvoseltamab.”
Linvoseltamab is a bispecific antibody, meaning it binds to two different targets. it connects CD3, a protein on T lymphocytes that destroy cancer cells, with BCMA, a protein present on multiple myeloma cells, bolstering the body’s immune response.
Following treatment, analysis of the patients’ bone marrows using highly sensitive genetic tests – capable of detecting one cancer cell among a million normal cells – revealed no detectable trace of myeloma. This negative minimal residual disease (MRD) status is associated with longer survival.
“Based on my experience, I would predict that, after such a good response in such a short time, the disease could problably be kept away for manny years,” stated Ola Landgren, a researcher involved in the study. “could it never come back in some patients? I would say it is indeed possible.”
Kazandjian expressed hope that linvoseltamab could provide patients with longer-lasting responses than transplants,perhaps achieving a “functional cure” for the disease.
