Real-world study findings presented at the virtual ESMO Congress show that therapy with ixazomib plus lenalidomide and dexamethasone (IRd) yields significant clinical benefits in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

“At present there is no cure for RRMM, yet patients have prolonged survival due to improved treatments, and therefore ensuring acceptable QoL throughout treatment is worthwhile. We aimed to evaluate QoL, safety and response to treatment with IRd as ≥2nd line in RRMM patients in a real-world setting,” explained Tatyana Ionova, MD, Oncology and Hematology Department, Multinational Center for Quality of Life Research, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, and colleagues.

A total of 32 adults (median age, 65 years) with RRMM assigned to receive second-line or higher IRd therapy were enrolled in the multi-center, observational, prospective study by Dr Ionova et al.

Approximately 50% of patients had received 3 to 7 previous lines of therapy. The median number of cycles administered was 4, and follow-up lasted for a median of 4.5 months. Because of death, refusal, and prematurity, treatment response was not evaluated in 9 patients.

Of the remaining 23 patients, 6 achieved partial responses and 10 had minor responses (clinical benefit rate, 67%).

Approximately 40% of patients had adverse events (AEs), including 9, 4, and 3 patients with  : grade 1-2 AEs, grade 3-4 AEs, and serious AEs, respectively.

According to the majority of SF-36 scales, baseline QoL was dramatically impaired, with significant QoL impairment in 50% of patients. Furthermore, 88% of patients had moderate-to severe symptoms (≥4 scores on the scale of 0-10), including moderate-to severe tiredness, pain, or shortness of breath in 72%, 59% and 50% patients, respectively.

After 1 month of treatment with IRd, QoL was found to be improved or stable in 53% patients, and at 3 months in 45% of patients. The researchers also observed better general and mental health 1 month after the start of treatment (P = .01).

“At 1 month of treatment meaningful decrease of shortness of breath (in 60% pts), tiredness and pain (in 30% pts) was revealed; this proportion decreased twice at 3 months,” Dr Ionova and co-investigators reported.

“The first results of our real-world study demonstrate significant clinical benefits of IRd regimen in RRMM patients. The treatment has acceptable safety profile and is accompanied with QoL maintenance and satisfactory symptom control in this heavily pretreated patients’ cohort,” they concluded.—Hina M. Porcelli

Ionova T, Anchukova L, Dubov S, et al. Quality of life and response to treatment with ixazomib-lenalidomide-dexamethasone (IRd) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) in a real-world setting. Presented at: the ESMO Virtual Congress 2020; September 19-21, 2020; virtual. Abstract 902P.