BCMA-targeted biologic therapies: The next standard of care in multiple myeloma therapy Review


Authors: Paul, B.; Rodriguez, C.; Usmani, S. Z.
Review Title: BCMA-targeted biologic therapies: The next standard of care in multiple myeloma therapy
Abstract: With recent advances in myeloma therapy, patients can achieve long-term remissions, but eventually relapses will occur. Triple-class refractory myeloma (disease that is refractory to an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody) and penta-refractory myeloma (disease that is refractory to two proteasome inhibitors, two immunomodulatory agents, and an anti-CD38 antibody) are associated with a particularly poor prognosis, and novel treatments are desperately needed for these patients. Targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), which is ubiquitously expressed on plasma cells, has emerged as a well-tolerated and highly efficacious strategy in patients with relapsed and refractory myeloma. Several mechanisms of targeting BCMA are currently under investigation, including antibody–drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and chimeric antigen receptor T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, all with unique side effect profiles. Early phase clinical trials showed unprecedented response rates in highly refractory myeloma patients, leading to the recent approvals of some of these agents. Still, many questions remain with regard to this target, including how best to target it, how to treat patients who have progressed on a BCMA-targeting therapy, and whether response rates will deepen if these agents are used in earlier lines of therapy. In this review, we examine the rationale for targeting BCMA and summarize the data for several agents across multiple classes of BCMA-targeting therapeutics, paying special attention to the diverse mechanisms and unique challenges of each therapeutic class. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Keywords: multiple myeloma; neoplasm recurrence, local; health care quality; tumor recurrence; biological therapy; therapy; adoptive immunotherapy; immunotherapy, adoptive; standard of care; humans; human; b cell maturation antigen; b-cell maturation antigen
Journal Title: Drugs
Volume: 82
Issue: 6
ISSN: 0012-6667
Publisher: Adis International Ltd  
Date Published: 2022-04-01
Start Page: 613
End Page: 631
Language: English
DOI: 10.1007/s40265-022-01697-0
PUBMED: 35412114
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Export Date: 1 June 2022 -- Source: Scopus
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  1. Saad Zafar Usmani
    335 Usmani