Treatment With Daratumumab for Multiple Myeloma May Improve Quality of Life

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Patients receiving daratumumab demonstrated a statistically significant decline in pain symptoms that was sustained over time.
The following article features coverage from the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2019 meeting. Click here to read more of Oncology Nurse Advisor‘s conference coverage.

Treatment for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) with daratumumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (D-Rd) may be associated with improved health-related quality of life compared with lenalidomide and dexamethasone (Rd) alone.

Researchers presented interim data from the ongoing phase 3 MAIA trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02252172) at the 2019 American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. In this study, patients with newly diagnosed MM received D-Rd (368 patients) or Rd (369 patients) and completed 2 questionnaires that assessed quality of life and survival at baseline and every 3 months thereafter.

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In both groups, compliance was higher than 90% at baseline and higher than 80% at 12 months. Patients in the D-Rd cohort experienced significantly greater improvement in Global Health Status (least square [LS] mean change, 4.5 vs 1.5; P =.0454) and the EQ-5D-5L Visual Analog Scale (LS mean change, 10.1 vs 4.9; P =.0002) compared with patients in the Rd cohort.

Additionally, according to the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire, patients receiving daratumumab experienced a median time to worsening 10 months longer than that experienced by patients receiving daratumumab compared with patients receiving Rd alone.

Both treatment groups experienced a decline in cognitive functioning, though no statistically significant difference was found between the groups. Patients in the D-Rd cohort reported significantly less pain early (LS mean change, -17.9 vs -11.0; P =.0007).

The researchers concluded that D-Rd treatment yielded more rapid, long-term improvement in quality of life for patients with newly diagnosed MM.

Reference

1.     Perrot A, Faco T, Plesner T, et al. Faster and sustained improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients ineligible for transplant treated with daratumumab, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (D-Rd) versus Rd alone: MAIA. Presented at: 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting; June 3, 2019; Chicago, IL. Abstract 8016.

This article originally appeared on Hematology Advisor