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Teaming Up With Your Doctor To Improve Equity in Care For Multiple Myeloma
Teaming Up With Your Doctor To Improve Equity in Care For Multiple Myeloma
Teaming Up With Your Doctor To Improve Equity in Care For Multiple Myeloma
Presented by:
Monique Hartley-Brown, MD, MMSc Amy Pierre, MSN, RN, ANP-BC Laura Ortiz-Ravick
Attending Physician, Jerome Lipper Senior Clinical Director, Real World Director, Outreach and Health Promotion
Multiple Myeloma Center Evidence Research Organization, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Flatiron Health
Associate Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Memorial Sloan
Brigham & Women's Hospital Kettering Cancer Center
Department of Medical Oncology
This patient education program is supported by GlaxoSmithKline and by an educational grant from Janssen Biotech, Inc.,
administered by Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC.
This activity is not certified for continuing education.
Speaker Disclosures
▪ Laura Ortiz-Ravick
− No relevant personal financial relationships to disclose
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Learning Objectives
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AP
A. Watch-and-wait
B. Newly diagnosed
C. First/second/etc., recurrence or relapse
D. In remission
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Multiple Myeloma: An Overview
▪ MM is a cancer of the
plasma cells, a type of
blood cell found in your
bone marrow
▪ Plasma cells are a type of B
cell that make antibodies to
attack and kill germs in your
body
▪ When these cells become
cancerous, they begin to
grow and multiply out of
control
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Risk Factors for MM
Risk factors for MM include:
Age Weight
Older people are Overweight people can
at higher risk be at higher risk
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Barriers to Accessing Care in the
African Diaspora
▪ African Diaspora populations with MM are
more likely to experience:
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Removing Barriers to Accessing
Care
Barriers to care access can result in worse outcomes
for patients and increased mortality rates
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MHB
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Approved Treatment Options for Newly
Diagnosed MM
Standard of Care = Triplet Therapy Antibodies are protective proteins produced by
your own immune system to fight against
antigens (foreign substances).
Steroid Dexamethasone,
(Increases myeloma cell destruction in combination with other therapies) prednisone
Chemotherapy Melphalan
(Therapy given in cycles to destroy myeloma cells)
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Transplant Eligibility Drives Treatment
Decisions: Talk to Your Doctor
A clinical trial should always be part of the initial treatment discussion
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Ongoing Clinical Trials for Newly
Diagnosed MM
Therapy Phase Clinical Trial Name Clinical Trial # Status
Teclistamab + 2 IFM 2021-01: Elderly NCT05572229 Not yet
daratumumab or patients with myeloma, recruiting
lenalidomide not transplant-eligible
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Questions to Ask Your Team:
Discussing Treatment Options
▪ What are all of my treatment options? Do these options fit with
guidelines, or is my case different?
▪ How are my options affected by my age and other conditions that I
have?
▪ Will treatment be painful? Will I feel ill afterwards, and for how
long? What short- and long-term side effects should I expect?
▪ How often will I receive the treatment? Do I have need to prepare
in any way (e.g., stop medications, no food)
▪ Will treatment disrupt my daily activities? Should I have someone
there to help me?
▪ How would you know if the treatment is working?
▪ Could I stop treatment? What happens if I do that?
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Common Side Effects of
Therapy
Side effects depend on the type of
treatment, but may include:
✓ Low blood counts ✓ Hair loss
✓ Pain ✓ Nausea/vomiting
✓ Fatigue ✓ Blood clots
✓ Memory loss ✓ Swelling (edema)
✓ Mental health changes ✓ Weight changes
✓ Constipation ✓ Diarrhea
✓ Peripheral neuropathy
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Questions to Ask Your Team:
Discussing Side Effects
▪ What can I do about the side effects that I’m experiencing?
▪ Would side effects decrease if my treatment regimen is changed?
▪ Do side effects get better if the treatment is working? Will they
eventually go away on their own?
▪ If I need to take additional medication to ease side effects, will it
interfere with my myeloma treatment? Could it make me feel more
ill?
▪ If a side effect becomes serious or unbearable, what should I do
and who should I contact? If you are not available, should I go to
the emergency room?
▪ Are there any emotional or psychological coping resources
available to help me and/or those taking care of me?
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MHB
What to Do When
Relapse Occurs:
Treatment Options for
Relapsed/Refractory MM
Developing a Relapse/Refractory
Plan with Your Team
▪ A relapse occurs when cancer returns after a period of
improvement
− Can happen months to years after treatment
− Patients begin to experience return of symptoms or new ones
▪ Refractory cancer means that the cancer is not
responding to a certain medication
▪ It is normal and understandable to experience feelings of:
depression fear
anxiety uncertainty
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Developing a Relapse/Refractory
Plan with Your Team
▪ You may have experienced some of
those feelings…
▪ You may be wondering if there are
other treatment options for you…
THERE IS HOPE!
▪ There are still treatment strategies to
use when your cancer relapses or is
resistant to certain treatments
▪ Your care team will work with you to
create a plan to prevent or reduce
the chances of the cancer returning
and to improve the outcomes of your
care journey
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Approved Treatment Options for
Relapsed/Refractory MM
TYPE (CLASS) OF MEDICATION MEDICATIONS
Immunomodulator (IMiD) (Activates immune system to destroy myeloma cells) Pomalidomide, Lenalidomide
Proteasome inhibitor (PI) (Blocks proteins that myeloma cells need to survive) Carfilzomib, Ixazomib, Bortezomib
Nuclear export inhibitor [1-3 prior therapies; >4 prior therapies] Selinexor
(Disrupts myeloma cell function)
Steroid (Increases myeloma cell destruction in combination with other therapies) Dexamethasone
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Therapy Combinations for Relapsed MM
Clinical trial (if eligible) – access to treatment not available outside of clinical trial enrollment
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Questions to Ask Your Team:
Relapsed/Refractory MM
▪ The same questions that you would ask in the case of newly
diagnosed MM are applicable to relapsed/refractory MM
▪ In addition, you should ask your care team:
− Will my symptoms, age, and stage of cancer affect my treatment
options?
− How would you know which medication was not working so we can use
another one in its place?
− Will the new regimen be very different from the previous one? Will it
affect how I feel afterwards? Should I expect worse side effects than
before?
− What are the chances that cancer will return even if the treatment works
this time? What happens if treatment does not work this time – do I
have other options?
− How does my relapse plan change if I am already relapsed/refractory?
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Patient Stories
Multiple Lines of Treatment
Adhering to Your Relapse Plan
▪ Your relapse plan may include recommendations to:
Exercise regularly
Accessing Clinical
Trials as Care and
Finding Support
Audience Polling Question LOR
33
AP
Patient Stories
Clinical Trials
AP
Participating in Clinical Trials:
What to Expect?
▪ Clinical trials can be a great option for receiving newer therapies
that are not yet approved by the FDA
▪ There are several steps to consider before enrolling in a clinical
trial, including:
− Eligibility for the study
− Testing that you may have to do before, during, and after
− What type of treatment will be given, side effects, and benefits/risks
− If you will need to travel/relocate and how costs will be covered
− Who will be on your care team to oversee your progress
3. Ask questions!!!
Eligibility, locations, travel,
process, support.
Opportunities
Clinical Trial
E.g. LLS Clinical Trial Support Center
1. Gather information
about your cancer. Know
your: cancer type, stage, risk
stratification/ genetic
features, treatment history.
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Clinical Trial Resource Hub
Resources for Patients, Caregivers, Community
A. Very likely
B. Likely
C. Somewhat likely
D. Not very likely
E. Not at all likely
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Finding the Right Support and
Resources
▪ There are several support
groups that will connect
you to other people who
share similar experiences
as you
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Patient Support and Resources
https://www.lls.org/support-resources https://blackdoctor.org/category/health
https://www.lls.org/treatment/types-treatment/clinical-trials -conditions/multiple-myeloma/
https://www.myeloma.org/support-groups https://themmrf.org/resources/find-a-support-group/
https://healthtree.org/myeloma https://www.cancersupportcommunity.org/cancer-support-helpline
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Addressing the Needs of Myeloma Patients
Through LLS Free Resources
LLS Resources: www.LLS.org/Support
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Q&A
with the experts
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Thank you for participating today!
• Pierre A, Williams TH. African American patients with multiple myeloma: Optimizing care to
decrease racial disparities. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2020;24(4):439-443.
• Kumar V, Alhaj-Moustafa M, Bojanini L, et al. Timeliness of initial therapy in multiple
myeloma: Trends and factors affecting patient care. JCO Oncol Pract. 2020;16(4):e341-
e349
• Fillmore NR, Yellapragada SV, Ifeorah C, et al. With equal access, African American
patients have superior survival compared to white patients with multiple myeloma: A VA
study. Blood. 2019;133(24):2615-2618
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References
• Usmani S, Alonso AA, Quach H et al. DREAMM-9: Phase I study of belantamab mafodotin
plus standard of care in patients with transplant-ineligible newly diagnosed multiple
myeloma. Presented at: 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and
Exposition. Abstract 2738
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