Reflections from the Myeloma MRD 2026 Meeting: What It Means for Patients Now

The MMRF was proud to once again take part in the annual Myeloma MRD Meeting, held this year in Miami. Like in past years, the meeting brought together doctors, researchers, companies, and patient advocates to talk about the growing role of measurable residual disease (MRD) in multiple myeloma.

MRD may sound technical, but at its core, it’s a very sensitive way to measure how much myeloma is left in the body after treatment, even at very low levels. This year’s meeting made it clear that MRD is becoming increasingly important in how we understand and treat myeloma. As a result, it is critical to address the remaining questions and challenges brought on by this new approach.

MRD Is Helping Us Predict Treatment Outcomes

In many clinical trials, patients who reach very deep responses (MRD negative) tend to stay in remission longer and live longer. Because of this, MRD is now being used as an early signal that a treatment is effective, sometimes years before traditional measures like overall response rate (the percentage of people who do well on treatment) and progression-free survival (the length of time before myeloma worsens) are available. This is especially helpful, as the predictive value of MRD status can help new therapies get FDA approval faster.

MRD also continues to provide useful information for patients whose myeloma has returned, helping doctors better understand how the disease is behaving. Importantly, this gives patients and their care team a greater window of opportunity to figure out the next steps in their treatment plan.

The Bigger Question: Can MRD Help Guide Treatment?

While MRD as a measurement tool is helpful, the bigger question is what comes next: Can MRD help doctors, and patients, make better treatment decisions? This is where the field is heading.

Patients and care teams are asking questions like:

• Do I need to stay on treatment?
• Am I getting more therapy than I need?
• Is it safe to stop treatment if my disease is no longer detectable?

These are some of the most important, and most personal, questions in myeloma care.

New MRD-driven trials are beginning to explore whether patients who have sustained MRD negativity, an undetectable amount of cancer cells over a prolonged time period, may be able to safely stop all treatment, including maintenance therapy.

If successful, this approach could reduce side effects, lower treatment burden (e.g. time attending appointments, financial costs), and improve quality of life, all while keeping the disease under control.

Access Remains the Biggest Hurdle for Widespread MRD Testing

Even with this progress, access to MRD testing remains a challenge.

Today, MRD testing often requires a bone marrow biopsy and access to specialized labs, something not all patients have, especially when they live far from major academic centers. There was strong agreement at the meeting that if MRD is going to guide treatment decisions, it must be available to more patients. Additionally, because the evidence supporting how MRD testing should guide treatment decisions is still evolving, many oncologists in the community care setting still prioritize standard monitoring like bloodwork and bone marrow biopsies, which offer faster and more accessible results compared to MRD.

That’s why there is growing interest in blood-based MRD tests, which could make testing easier, less invasive, and more widely accessible. However, this still remains a work in progress.

How the MMRF Is Working for Every Patient

As MRD becomes more important, the MMRF is focused on making sure these advances benefit all patients, not just those treated at major centers.

That means doing more than advancing the science. It means building the tools and driving the studies that needed to bring MRD testing into everyday care.

The MMRF is leading this effort through its Horizon clinical trial platforms. For example, Horizon One is studying how MRD can be used to guide real treatment decisions, including whether some patients may be able to safely stop therapy.

These studies are designed to answer the questions patients care most about:

• Can I safely stop treatment?
• How do we use MRD to make better decisions about my care?
• Can testing become easier and more available to everyone?

Importantly, these answers can only come from clinical trials, and the MMRF has the expertise and infrastructure to make them possible.

Keeping Patients at the Center

Throughout the meeting, one message stood out: Research must stay focused on what matters most to patients.

We continue to hear directly from patients and caregivers about the questions they want answered about risk, side effects, treatment choices, and stopping therapy safely.

MRD research is beginning to address many of these concerns, but there is still more work to do. If you have any questions about MRD, the MMRF Patient Navigation Center can offer support in answering these questions and give one‑on‑one guidance tailored for you.