Dr. Chari Discusses Frail and Elderly Patients With Multiple Myeloma

Ajai Chari, MD, associate professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, discusses frail and elderly patients with multiple myeloma.

The biggest unmet medical needs in multiple myeloma are the frail and elderly population, specifically patients with renal failure and those with high-risk disease, says Chari. Although outcomes have improved for high-risk patients with novel regimens, they have yet to reach those seen in standard-risk patients. The same thing is true for the frail and elderly population and those with renal failure, adds Chari.

Currently, there are no studies that are investigating novel therapeutics for these patient populations, partly because of how complex it is to perform these studies. Moreover, elderly and frail patients are difficult to enroll in trials due to difficulties in accessing academic medical centers. Additionally, patients with renal failure are often excluded from clinical trials. Chari adds that high-risk patients comprise a small subset of the overall population, which, in combination with the complexity of the trial design itself, makes it difficult to conduct clinical trials.