Rob Miani joined the MMRF team as Chief Financial Officer in 2016. Most recently he was the Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller of Aptuit, LLC, a global contract research organization providing integrated early discovery to mid-phase drug development services in the pharmaceutical industry. Rob has over 20 years of leadership experience in the private and public sectors, holding managerial positions in the renewable energy, private equity, Internet and technology industries, including Davenport Newberry, Oak Investment Partners and INT Media Group. He began his career with Arthur Anderson LLP in the Assurance and Business Advisory Services Division. Rob is a CPA and received his BS degree in Accounting from Fairfield University.
ASH 2017 – Day Four
ASH 2017 – Day Four
Another ASH meeting has come to a close, but not without another exciting development in MM! This morning’s late-breaking abstract session (abstracts that highlight exciting and substantive studies with a high clinical impact) included data on the use of the monoclonal antibody Darzalex (daratumumab), which has been shown...
Morning
7:30 AM-9:00 AM
Late-Breaking Abstracts Session
Another ASH meeting has come to a close, but not without another exciting development in MM! This morning’s late-breaking abstract session (abstracts that highlight exciting and substantive studies with a high clinical impact) included data on the use of the monoclonal antibody Darzalex (daratumumab), which has been shown to be highly effective in relapsed and refractory patients, as part of a treatment regimen for newly diagnosed MM patients (Abstract LBA-4).
Dr. Maria-Victoria Mateos from Salamanca, Spain presented the results of her phase 3 trial integrating Darzalex into a frontline treatment regimen for patients who are ineligible for an autologous stem cell transplant (ABSTRACT LBA-4). In this study, patients who were 65 years of age or older were split into 2 different treatment groups: the first group received Darzalex combined with Velcade, melphalan, and prednisone (D-VMP) and the second group received only VMP (which is a current standard of care for these patients). It is important to note that while MP is no longer commonly used in the US with Velcade or other treatments, in many other countries, where newer therapies are not widely available, VMP is considered the standard of care for transplant ineligible patients.
This study found:
- Treatment with the Darzalex-based regimen (D-VMP) reduced the risk of disease progression by half compared to treatment with VMP
- More patients receiving Darzalex achieved a complete response or better and three times as many patients achieved minimal residual disease negativity than patients who did not receive Darzalex
Again, while VMP is not commonly used in the US, what US patients can take away from this study is the fact that Darzalex may have a potential role in first-line treatment of MM and we need to complete the clinical trials to determine the best combination and the right patient population.
The study results have also been simultaneously published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
