The Benefit of Adding Daratumumab to Multiple Myeloma Drug Combinations

Due to promising new data from several big clinical trials, it’s now believed that daratumumab can benefit patients with multiple myeloma regardless of
whether they’re eligible to receive a stem cell transplant.

Daratumumab (also known by its brand name, Darzalex), is a type of drug called a targeted monoclonal antibody. It works by binding to a specific protein called CD38, which is found on the surface of multiple myeloma cells. Once the daratumumab attaches to these proteins on the surface of the cells, the body’s immune system identifies the need to attack and kill the multiple myeloma cells.

A Promising Option Regardless of Transplant Eligibility

As Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist at the University of California San Francisco, explains, patients receiving a stem cell transplant can benefit from the addition of daratumumab to a combination of the drugs Velcade, Revlimid and dexamethasone (a combination that doctors often abbreviate as “Dara VRD”).

If, on the other hand, a transplant isn’t the right course of treatment for you, you may still be able to benefit from daratumumab when it’s used in what’s called the “upfront” or “first-line” treatment setting (meaning as the first part of your treatment, before you receive other drugs) when combined with Revlimid and dexamethasone (a combination that doctors often abbreviate as “DRD”).

“If you’re not interested in a transplant, or maybe that’s not in the works for you at the moment, you may consider daratumumab, Revlimid and dexamethasone, or ‘DRD,'” Dr. Shah explains.

Promising Results from a Trial

“One thing that’s really gotten a lot of attention is not just three drugs, but four drugs,” Dr. Shah says. She explains that a recent clinical trial called GRIFFIN showed that before a stem cell transplant, treatment with daratumumab in combination with Velcade, Revlimid and dexamethasone was more beneficial than treatment with Velcade, Revlimid and dexamethasone alone.

And when patients who received this combination before their transplant, then went on to receive additional daratumumab after their transplant, the benefit was even greater.

“Preliminarily, at least, the data seems to indicate that the patients who got four drugs, then went on to a transplant and then got more daratumumab … actually did better than the three drugs,” Dr. Shah says.

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