Recent advances in the treatment of multiple myeloma: a brief review

The recent history of multiple myeloma has been marked by tremendous advances in the treatments available, which have ultimately improved the patients’ survival. Immune-based therapies, starting with the emergence of anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies, whose impact is seen across all groups of patients, are probably the greatest evolution in the field of myeloma so far. Building on the efficacy of immunotherapy, “modern” immunological treatments such as CAR-T cells or bispecific antibodies are being developed. There clearly are lots of expectations for these novel immunotherapies, and, though first developed in relapsed myeloma, they will surely challenge the current strategies in early lines of treatment. Immunotherapy, since the development of anti-CD38, is a milestone in the treatment of myeloma and has already led to many paradigm shifts. Nevertheless, myeloma remains an incurable disease and diversified options are still required, notably for heavily pretreated patients. Non-immune-based treatments, which were responsible for most successes previously, are not to be completely abandoned. Novel pathophysiological mechanisms have been unraveled in the past few years, and thus, new targets have been identified, leading to the development of new drugs and new drug classes, such as XPO1 inhibitors and anti-BCL-2. Overall, the future of multiple myeloma is full of possibilities and considerable changes are still expected in the sequencing of treatments in the years to come.