Page 325 - Haematologica Vol. 109 - July 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
217 patients entered in the DREAMM-3 trial).10
This safety profile is crucial when we manage heavily pre- treated MM patients with severe immunosuppression and a previous history of infections because the other alternatives, like CAR T cells or bispecific antibodies, have reported a high incidence of severe infections, including those requir- ing hospitalizations.16 Other toxicities like cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity, although manageable in most patients, are not associated with belantamab ma- fodotin, which further facilitates outpatient management of patients in clinical practice.
Furthermore, patients residing in remote areas, distant from academic centers where advanced therapies are administered, often face formidable barriers to treatment access. Patients lacking a robust caregiver or family support may face challenges with treatments that require signif- icant monitoring and staying away from home for several weeks. Belantamab mafodotin, with its more manageable administration requirements, offers an option for these un- der-served populations alleviating some of these burdens. In conclusion, we as authors and treating physicians en- dorsing this letter and firmly consider that belantamab mafodotin is a vital addition to treatment armamentarium of MM, particularly for our triple class exposed refractory patients with limited treatment options. The results pub- lished on real-world practice14,15 also support this conclu- sion (Table 1).
Its unique attributes address the specific needs of patients who have exhausted conventional, available treatments and who may not find suitability with other recently approved therapies. It is important to keep in mind that despite the approvals of some of novel options mentioned before, their accessibility represents a significant hurdle for most patients in Europe, leaving many patients without viable options.
As we strive for more inclusive and effective treatments, the accessibility, and clinical benefits of belantamab ma- fodotin should remain an option for this vulnerable patient population, as with other more convenient outpatient op- tions in this setting.
Authors
Maria Victoria Mateos,1,2 Katja Weisel,3 Evangelos Terpos,4 Sossana Delimpasi,5 Efstathios Kastritis,4 Elena Zamagni,6 Michel Delforge,7 Enrique Ocio,8,9 Eirini Katodritou,10 Francesca Gay,11,12 Alessandra Larocca,11,12 Xavier Leleu,13 Paula Rodriguez Otero,14-17 Fredik Schjesvold,18-20 Michele Cavo21,22 and Meletios A. Dimopoulos4
1Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; 2University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; 3University Hospital Hamburg- Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; 4National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medicine School, Athens, Greece; 5Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece; 6University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy;
7University Hospital Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; 8Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), Santander, Spain; 9University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain; 10Theageneion Cancer Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece; 11University of Torino, Turin, Italy; 12AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza of Turin, Turin, Italy; 13Hopital La Mileterie, Poitiers, France; 14Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; 15Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Pamplona, Spain; 16Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra IDISNA, Pamplona, Spain; 17Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Cáncer (CIBERONC) Pamplona, Spain; 18Oslo Myeloma Center, Oslo, Norway; 19Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 20KG Jebsen Center for B Cell Malignancies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 21IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Istituto di Ematologia “Seràgnoli”, Bologna, Italy and 22Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Correspondence:
M. V. MATEOS - mvmateos@usal.es
https://doi.org/10.3324/haematol.2023.284694
Received: November 17, 2023. Accepted: February 13, 2024. Early view: February 22, 2024.
©2024 Ferrata Storti Foundation Published under a CC BY-NC license
Disclosures
MVM has received honoraria derived from lectures and participation in boards from Janssen, Celgene-BMS, GSK, Sanofi, Pfizer, AbbVie, Regeneron and Novartis. KW has received research funding (to institution) from Abbvie, Amgen, BMS/Celgene, Janssen, GSK, Sanofi and Takeda; honoraria form Abbvie, Amgen, Adaptative Biotech, Astra Zeneca, BMS/Celgene, BeiGene, Janssen, GSK, Karyopharm, Novartis, Oncopeptides, Pfizer, Roche Pharma, Sanofi, Stemline, Takeda and Menarini; and consulting fees from Abbvie, Amgen, Adaptative Biotech, BMS/Celgene, BeiGene, Janssen, GSK, Karyopharm, Oncopeptides, Pfizer, Roche Pharma, Sanofi, Takeda and Menarini. ET has received research funding from Amgen, GSK, Janssen, Sanofi and Takeda; honoraria from Amgen, BMS, Astra/ Zeneca, EUSA Pharma, GSK, Janssen, Menarini/Stemline, Pfizer, Sanofi and Takeda; and travel expenses from Amgen, Astra/Zeneca, EUSA Pharma, Sanofi and Takeda. SD has not conflict of interest to disclose. EK has received honoraria derived from lectures and participation in boards from Janssen, GSK and Pfizer. EZ has received honoraria and AB member from Janssen, BMS, Sanofi, Amgen, GSK, Pfizer, Oncopeptides and Menarini/Stemline. MD has received speaker honoraria from BMS, GSK, Janssen and Stemline. EO discloses honoraria from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Oncopeptides, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, and Takeda; consulting/advisory role from AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Menarini/Stemline Therapeutics, Oncopeptides, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Takeda; speakers’ bureau from Janssen; and travel/accommodation expenses from
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