Transforming Multiple Myeloma Care With Education and Advanced Therapies

Matias Sanchez, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), emphasizes the importance of patient education and caregiver support in navigating complex therapies like transplants, while advising oncologists to embrace innovative treatments such as bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy for multiple myeloma, tailoring them to patients' frailty levels.

Sanchez participated in a panel discussion on best practices in multiple myeloma care at a recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine^® event in Chicago.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Transcript

What role does patient education play in managing expectations and outcomes, especially with the increased use of innovative but complex therapies?

Education is crucial in terms of supportive care. I'm from the transplant world, so that's where we really need to make sure the patient has a caregiver or has someone who can help them navigate the system and help them with the chores. Usually with our patient population that we take care at UIC, we try to always make sure the patient has someone who can help navigate everything, the whole transplant or chemotherapy process, everything. I think it's the most important thing. And it's a team, so our nurses do a great job there, too.

What advice would you give to other oncologists who are looking to adopt more value-based approaches to managing multiple myeloma?

My advice would be to, first, use the most effective therapies for myeloma that you have up front, and don't be afraid to use the new therapies that are available, especially the bispecifics and CAR T. We can select the patients who are the best patients to whom we can give those treatments. Make sure patients are not very frail or ultra frail; we can adapt those treatments according to their frailty status. But don't be afraid either to use them. Because these are all new treatments that make us anxious and make us go, "What are we going to do if the patient gets a fever?"—all those things, yeah— but don't be afraid to try to use targeted therapies in the right patient.