What role will minimal residual disease testing play in multiple myeloma?

Ola Landgren, MD, PhD from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY gives an overview of his talk on the applications of minimal residual disease (MRD) testing in multiple myeloma (MM) held at the Myeloma 2016 meeting in Boston, MA. Dr Landgren outlines how two years ago, around 30% of institutions conducted flow based MRD testing while now, it is 60%. He further discusses the work that remains to be done in this field. According to Dr Landgren, MRD has arrived in MM due to the various new therapies that are now available. In terms of applications for MRD, Dr Landgren discusses how it is a predictor of outcome, will play a role in approval and review of drugs and further the development of clinical trials.