New Possibilities of Treatment for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma: A Literature Review

Despite improvements in the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) through the introduction of new drugs and high-dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, relapses are still inevitable in all patients. The use of immunomodulatory agents (thalidomide, lenalidomide) and proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has improved the treatment of relapses. However, the disease progression lead to repeated relapses and eventually refractory MM. For these patients new therapeutic strategies are needed, including the development of more effective drugs within the existing classes and the study of new combinations, as well as searching new targets for the treatment of MM. We present the key clinical data on the efficacy and safety of the most promising proteasome inhibitors (carfilzomib, ixazomib), new generation immunomodulatory drug pomalidomide, and monoclonal antibodies (daratumumab and elotuzumab).