Hi Everyone.
I am currently in remission in my high risk MM, but yesterday I had a chat with my consultant about what treatment next, I should have have when I fall out of remission.
He proposed two alternative options:
– Belantamab, short for belantamab mafodotin and which has the brand name Blenrep. This would be taken along with lenalidomide (or pomalidomide), dexamethosone and bortezomib.
Its most frequent side effect is on eyesight, but the consultant said that doctors are reducing the frequency and severity of this by tweaking the dose size and frequency.
– Teclistamab (= brand name Tecvayli).
This is a bispecific antibody. It has had a major side effect with cytokine release syndrome (basically, it gets the immune system to attack the MM cells so hard and fast that in the short term it can be pretty harmful in the short term for the body), but doctors have figured out that giving a few smaller doses reduces the CRS.
I read up on the latest research. Both options – according to research papers published in a huge cancer conference called ASCO over the last couple of weeks – look pretty effective. I am more than happy to provide info and links.
What I don’t know much is about their approval status. I think that neither are approved in the UK. Is that right?
If not, are there prospects for belantamab or tecvayli to be approved some time soon?
