R. Donald Harvey speaks about the addition of new medicines and how they can be included in the existing treatment armamentarium.
We have had three drugs approved in myeloma in the very recent past. Those three drugs include two monoclonal antibodies, elotuzumab, and daratumumab, as well as an oral proteasome inhibitor, the first oral proteasome inhibitor, ixazomib.
I think the biggest challenge in terms of patient management and thinking about these drugs is really how do you use them? There's data for upfront and for second line treatments in patients that have had one to three prior lines of treatment, some who've had more lines of treatment.
It's an exciting time because a lot of these drugs can be added to drugs we already have in the clinic like immunomodulatory drugs as well as other agents that are available.
The challenge really is picking the right patient, giving them the right regimen, and seeing how future data evolves in phase two and three settings for the use of these new drugs, and earlier treatment paradigms, induction therapy for example.