Dr. Martin on Subcutaneous Administration of Daratumumab in Multiple Myeloma

Thomas G. Martin, MD, clinical professor of medicine, Adult Leukemia and Bone Marrow Transplantation Program, associate director, Myeloma Program, University of California, San Francisco, co-leader, Hematopoietic Malignancies Program, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the impact of subcutaneous administration of daratumumab (Darzalex) on patients with early relapse multiple myeloma.

The phase III COLUMBA trial demonstrated that subcutaneous daratumumab has quicker administration than intravenous daratumumab in patients with early relapse multiple myeloma, explains Martin. The subcutaneous administration of daratumumab takes about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, intravenous administration of daratumumab takes 7 to 8 hours for the first dose and about 4 hours for each subsequent dose, according to Martin. If an institution uses rapid daratumumab infusion, administration takes around 90 minutes.

When daratumumab is FDA approved for subcutaneous injection, it is going to have more widespread use in the early relapse patient population, concludes Martin.