Getting Multiple Myeloma Patients Informed
- There have been incredible advances when it comes to treating multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in recent years.
- However, a key to getting patients access to these treatments — and getting them diagnosed earlier — is access to good medical information.
- Tyrone Brewer, President, US Hematology at Johnson & Johnson, spoke to SurvivorNet about why patient education is so critical.
- Brewer stresses that patients and caretakers can advocate for themselves when they are educated about their disease. “The only way to do that is if you truly understand what you’re fighting for and what you’re fighting against,” he says.
CAR T-cell therapy is a form of treatment that creates a new way for immune cells to fight cancer by re-engineering a patient’s T-cells. However, not all patients have equal access to or information about these potentially life-saving treatments.
Read MoreUnderstanding Multiple Myeloma
“We think about patient education in two ways; the first is very important because who is going to be a better advocate for you than yourself, your caregiver, or a member of your family? The only way to do that is if you truly understand what you’re fighting for and what you’re fighting against. So, it’s really important that people have that education,” Brewer explains.
“What you find, unfortunately, without this education, often patients are showing up, particularly those in the minority community, with later diagnoses and more aggressive disease, and unfortunately, that leads to poorer outcomes,” Brewer adds.
Keeping Multiple Myeloma Patients Informed
It’s important, as a patient, to be well-informed while facing a disease like multiple myeloma. It’s also helpful to get a sense of who the decision-makers behind the potentially life-saving drug treatments that many cancer warriors rely on are.
Brewer is among the leaders in the world of oncology, helping drive critical funding for cancer research in the hopes of finding more effective treatments.
As Brewer explains, for multiple myeloma, “You have Darzalex (daratumumab) available as a frontline therapy. You have Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) available for your first relapse. Then, unfortunately, if you continue to progress, you have both Tecvayli and Talvey for later-stage disease.”
Darzalex is a type of targeted monoclonal antibody. Monoclonal antibodies target specific proteins in cancer cells so they can be more easily identified by the immune system and wiped out.
Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), Tecvayli (teclistamab), and Talvey (talquetamab) are options to consider when cancer returns or continues to progress.
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