ASCO 2026: The Presentations That May Shape The Future of Multiple Myeloma

The 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is almost here.

This year’s meeting will exhibit several late-breaking abstracts, poster sessions, and other key presentations that may reflect notable paradigm shifts across a variety of disease types and treatment settings. In the world of multiple myeloma, updated clinical trial readouts will shed light on how novel immunotherapy regimens and cellular agents may continue to transform the standard of care.

To better understand the data sets that may influence multiple myeloma care, CancerNetwork^® spoke with Saad Z. Usmani, MD, MBA, FACP, FASCO, about the sessions to keep an eye on throughout the meeting. He highlighted presentations that may have significant implications regarding the use of regimens that include bispecific antibodies and cereblon E3 ligase modulatory drugs (CELMoDs).

“I'm really looking forward to these randomized clinical trial data to be released, welcoming a lot of discussion that we are going to have once the data is in the public domain in the coming weeks,” Usmani stated.

Usmani is a multiple myeloma specialist, cellular therapist, and chief of the Myeloma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is also a member of the International Myeloma Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.

7507: MajesTEC-9: a phase 3 randomized study of teclistamab monotherapy vs investigator’s choice of pomalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone or carfilzomib and dexamethasone (PVd/Kd) in patients (pts) with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Presentation: May 29, 4:57 – 5:09 PM CST by Roberto Mina, MD

“We have a couple of trials that are looking at bispecifics [beyond the frontline] treatment setting, both with talquetamab-tgvs [Talvey] as well as teclistamab-cqyv [Tecvayli],” Usmani stated regarding this year’s lineup of presentations.

One key abstract involving teclistamab will focus on data from the phase 3 MajesTEC-9 trial (NCT05572515), in which investigators assessed the BCMA/CD3 bispecific antibody as monotherapy vs pomalidomide (Pomalyst) plus bortezomib (Velcade) and dexamethasone (PVd) or carfilzomib (Kyprolis) plus dexamethasone among patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma after 1 to 3 prior lines of therapy.¹

Previous topline data from MajesTEC-9 revealed that teclistamab monotherapy decreased the risk of progression or death by 71% compared with standard of care in this population (HR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.23-0.38).² Additionally, the risk of death was reduced by 40% with teclistamab, representing an improvement in overall survival (OS; HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.43-0.83).

“The MajesTEC-9 results reinforce the potential of [teclistamab] to transform treatment earlier in the multiple myeloma journey, with an immunotherapy regimen widely available for all appropriate patients, including those commonly treated in the community setting,” presenting study author Roberto Mina, MD, associate professor at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University and former assistant professor at University of Turin in Turin, Italy, said in a press release about these findings.²

7510: Optec/Optal: a phase 2 study to evaluate outpatient (OP), step-up administration of teclistamab (Tec) or talquetamab (Tal) with prophylactic tocilizumab (prophyToci) in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Presentation: May 31, 9:51 – 9:57 AM CST by Peter Forsberg, MD

As novel cellular therapy regimens increasingly become adopted across the multiple myeloma field, expanding access to treatment through outpatient programs and similar strategies remains an ongoing effort. A presentation on updated findings from the phase 2 Optec/Optal study (NCT05972135) may support the feasibility of giving bispecific antibodies, along with prophylactic tocilizumab (Actemra), to patients with relapsed/refractory disease in the outpatient setting.³

According to data published in the abstract, the rate of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) was 5% among patients who received step-up dosing of teclistamab in arm A (n = 43), which consisted entirely of grade 1 events. Among those who received talquetamab in arm B (n = 7), 14% experienced grade 1 CRS.

Investigators noted 3 stringent complete responses (sCRs), 6 CRs, 11 very good partial responses (VGPRs), and 8 PRs among patients in arm A. In arm B, 1 patient had an sCR, and 6 were not evaluable. Overall, the data showed that a single dose of prophylactic tocilizumab before step-up dosing of teclistamab or talquetamab could reduce the incidence of CRS without additional impacts on safety or efficacy, thereby supporting outpatient administration of these agents.

LBA7506: Mezigdomide, carfilzomib, and dexamethasone (MeziKd) vs carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): results from the phase 3 SUCCESSOR-2 trial.

Presentation: May 29, 4:45 – 4:57 PM CST by Paul G. Richardson, MD

Usmani also identified the presentation on the phase 3 SUCCESSOR-2 trial (NCT05552976) as one to look forward to at this year’s meeting.⁴ Here, investigators are evaluating the addition of the CELMoD mezigdomide to carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) and how the triplet compares with Kd alone among those with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Topline data from SUCCESSOR-2 showed that the mezigdomide triplet showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful progression-free survival (PFS) improvement vs Kd alone.⁵ Additionally, the safety profile of mezigdomide was comparable with prior reports of the agent.

“While treatment advances have been meaningful, far too many patients with multiple myeloma still relapse or stop responding—making the need for new options urgent. These data underscore the potential of [mezigdomide plus Kd] as an oral regimen that could address a key unmet need for patients previously exposed to anti-CD38 and lenalidomide [Revlimid],” presenting study author Paul Richardson, MD, director of Clinical Research and clinical program leader at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and RJ Corman Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, stated in a press release on these findings.⁵

References

1. Mina R, Touzeau C, Hungria V, et al. MajesTEC-9: a phase 3 randomized study of teclistamab monotherapy vs investigator’s choice of pomalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone or carfilzomib and dexamethasone (PVd/Kd) in patients (pts) with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). J Clin Oncol. 2026;44(suppl 16):7507. doi:10.1200/JCO.2026.44.16_suppl.7507
2. TECVAYLI monotherapy demonstrates superior progression-free and overall survival versus standard of care as early as first relapse in patients with multiple myeloma predominantly refractory to anti-CD38 therapy and lenalidomide. News release. Johnson & Johnson. January 14, 2026. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/ycxxw2np
3. Forsberg P, Andorsky D, Rifkin RM, et al. Optec/Optal: a phase 2 study to evaluate outpatient (OP), step-up administration of teclistamab (Tec) or talquetamab (Tal) with prophylactic tocilizumab (prophyToci) in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). J Clin Oncol. 2026;44(suppl 16):7510. doi:10.1200/JCO.2026.44.16_suppl.7510
4. Richardson PG, Schjesvold F, Fu C, et al. Mezigdomide, carfilzomib, and dexamethasone (MeziKd) vs carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM): results from the phase 3 SUCCESSOR-2 trial. J Clin Oncol. 2026;44(suppl 17):LBA7506. doi:10.1200/JCO.2026.44.17_suppl.LBA7506
5. Bristol Myers Squibb announces positive phase 3 results from the SUCCESSOR-2 study of oral mezigdomide in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. News release. Bristol Myers Squibb. March 9, 2026. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/nc2m7cj4