Since the mid-1990s, mortality associated with multiple myeloma (MM) has decreased with the introduction of new therapies, according to a poster presented at ESMO Congress 2022.
Researchers evaluated data from patients with MM included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program from 1975 to 2019 to evaluate how MM-specific mortality trends changed with changes in treatment.
The data showed that MM-specific mortality increased from 1975 to 1993 (annual percent change [APC], 1.49%; P <.01), and there was no significant change in MM-specific mortality from 2009 to 2012 (APC, 1.29%; P =.38).
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However, there was a significant reduction in MM-specific mortality from 1993 to 2002 (APC, -0.49%; P <.01), from 2002 to 2009 (APC, -2.00; P <.01), and from 2012 to 2019 (APC, -1.61%; P <.01).
The researchers noted that there were no major treatment changes from 1975 to 1993. However, after autologous stem cell transplant became routine frontline therapy in the mid-1990’s, MM-specific mortality began to decline.
The reduction in mortality from 2002 to 2009 can be explained by the approval of proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs, according to the researchers. The approval of more agents, including monoclonal antibodies, as well as routine use of frontline triplet therapy and maintenance therapy explains the decrease in mortality from 2012 to 2019, they added.
Disclosures: Some of the study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.
Reference
Kahlon N, Abuhelwa Z, Sheikh T, et al. Multiple myeloma: Effect of changing treatment landscape on population mortality in United States. Presented at ESMO 2022; September 9-13, 2022. Abstract 637P.
This article originally appeared on Hematology Advisor
