Transplant vs no transplant: the IFM 2009 clinical trial in MM

Mohamad Mohty, MD, PhD, from Saint-Antoine Hospital, Paris, France, and President of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), talks about the IFM Spotlight session hosted at the 2016 Annual Meeting of EBMT, held in Valencia, Spain. This non-sponsored session covered the clinical trial IFM/DFCI2009 in multiple myeloma (MM), where the first interim results were presented by Prof. Mohty. Patients received an induction treatment with lenalidomide, bortozomib and dexamethasone (VRD), either followed by transplant and consolidation with VRD and maintenance with lenalidomide; or, no transplant, consolidation with VRD and maintenance with lenalidomide. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), which was achieved with superiority in the transplant arm. In the same session, the experts discussed the value of minimum residual disease (MRD) in MM, with Prof. Hervé Avet-Loiseau presented compelling data correlating MRD negativity with improved outcomes. Patients in the same trial underwent positron emission tomography (PET) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Data presented by Prof. Philippe Moreau demonstrated the importance of these techniques to assess MRD negativity, and its correlation with improved outcome.