Dr. Banerjee on Myeloma Awareness Month: Exciting Therapies, Global Disparities

Rahul Banerjee, MD, FACP, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, stopped by Blood Cancers Today to speak about the importance of “Myeloma Awareness Month,” or “Myeloma Action Month,” and what it means to him as a clinician and researcher.

“I think it’s an extremely important opportunity for us to spread awareness and call to action for better ways to diagnose myeloma, better ways to treat myeloma, and better ways to support patients with myeloma throughout their journey,” Dr. Banerjee said.

He also mentioned exciting myeloma news in 2024, including a possible accelerated approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in earlier lines of therapy.

“As they have a relapse, I think it makes sense to have those patients be evaluated at a CAR-T or bispecific-capable center because of all these new opportunities that are FDA-approved, and all these new clinical trials and products that are in investigation,” he said. “I think that’s really exciting.”

Dr. Banerjee also touched upon disparities in myeloma treatment access across the globe.

“Most of our patients around the world do not have access to CAR-T, and sometimes do not even have access to daratumumab, a drug that I take for granted in the [United States],” he said. “I think one of the biggest things that we can do with Myeloma Awareness Month is hopefully mitigate some of those disparities.”