MMRF Programs Drive Advances in Cancer Research at 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting

Today, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) announced that new insights related to novel targets, risk assessment, and potential improved treatment approaches generated through its landmark CoMMpass℠ Study and MyDRUG℠ platform trial will be presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana from December 10 – 13, 2022.

Data from the MMRF helped drive findings of 33 studies featured at ASH, with the MMRF CoMMpass Study being cited in nine oral abstracts, highlighting the utility and value of the oft-used study by the global myeloma research community.

“Since its inception, the CoMMpass Study has been used by hundreds of researchers worldwide and continues to promote a level of collaboration that is essential to an increased understanding of myeloma,” said George Mulligan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of the MMRF. “At the same time, the MyDRUG trial continues to make an impact by assessing the way targeted therapies interact with specific biomarkers found in patients. The insights gained by these two innovative studies demonstrate the importance of generating and sharing a wide array of data.”

MMRF MyDRUG platform trial advances community’s understanding of targeted therapies

Also featured in multiple abstracts at this year’s ASH meeting is MyDRUG, a first-in-myeloma Phase 1/2 platform clinical trial conducted by the MMRF’s Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC), a network of leading cancer centers that investigate promising early-stage therapies. The MMRC focuses primarily on trials like MyDRUG that require the collaboration of many sites, given their specificity and scale. MyDRUG builds upon discoveries of common cancer-associated mutations observed in the CoMMpass Study. The goal of MyDRUG is to determine if precision medicine strategies using targeted therapies that are already approved in other cancers are safe and effective in myeloma patients with specific mutations.

Notable findings at this year’s ASH meeting related to the MyDRUG study include:

• In the MyDRUG study, patients with MAPK pathway mutations were treated with cobimetinib, a MAPK pathway inhibitor that is FDA-approved for certain types of melanoma. Using single cell genomic profiling, the MMRF research team detected changes in both the tumor cells and in the immune system during the course of therapy on this arm. These data highlight the specific molecular mechanisms of cobimetinib on MAPK signaling and provide evidence that both tumor and immune systems are modified by treatment (abstract 3153).
• 38 patients who did not have any actionable mutations detected in their bone marrow were treated with daratumumab, a CD38 targeted antibody, for two cycles and then with daratumumab in combination with ixazomib, pomalidomide and dexamethasone (IPD), revealing an overall response rate (ORR) of 92.1% in the D-IPD arm. Results from the study indicate that this all-oral therapeutic regimen exhibited significant activity and a manageable adverse events profile (abstract 1931).

About the MMRF CoMMpass StudySM

The MMRF CoMMpass Study is an ongoing longitudinal study of patients with newly diagnosed active multiple myeloma. The goal is to map the genomic profile of each patient at diagnosis and each relapse to clinical outcomes in order to develop a more complete understanding of how patients respond to treatments. The MMRF initiated the CoMMpass Study more than ten years ago to address the need for a large, comprehensive, genomic and clinical data set that was publicly available to researchers to realize the potential of personalized medicine. The insights generated by CoMMpass have led to groundbreaking discoveries that have transformed the research community’s understanding of myeloma at a genomic level.

About the MMRF MyDRUG StudySM

The MMRF MyDRUG study is the first platform trial in myeloma. The purpose of MyDRUG is to test targeted therapies not yet approved in myeloma, in combination with a standard of care oral triplet therapy, in functionally high-risk multiple myeloma patients who demonstrate specific genetic alterations.

About the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)

A pioneer in personalized medicine, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) seeks to find a cure for all multiple myeloma patients by relentlessly pursuing innovations that accelerate the development of personalized treatments for cancer. Founded in 1998 by Kathy Giusti, a multiple myeloma patient, and her twin sister Karen Andrews as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the MMRF has created the benchmark business model around cancer—from data to analytics to the clinic. The MMRF identifies barriers and then finds the solutions to overcome them, bringing in the best partners and aligning incentives in the industry to drive better outcomes for patients. Since its inception, the organization has collected thousands of samples and tissues, opened nearly 100 trials, helped bring more than 15 FDA-approved therapies to market, and built CoMMpass, the single largest genomic dataset in myeloma. Today, the MMRF is building on its legacy in genomics and is expanding into immunotherapy, as the combination of these two fields will be critical to making personalized medicine possible for all patients. The MMRF has raised more than $500 million and directs nearly 90% of the total funds to research and related programs. To learn more, visit www.themmrf.org.