Cevostamab May Fill Gap in Multiple Myeloma Armamentarium

In a conversation with CancerNetwork^®, Prerna Mewawalla, MD, discussed the potential clinical utility of targeting FcRH5 in the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma, especially with the investigational agent cevostamab. She spoke in the context of a presentation she gave at the 2026 National ICE-T Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, which focused on the current landscape of bispecific antibodies in multiple myeloma.¹

Mewawalla highlighted how cevostamab may fill a gap for patients who have progressed on prior cellular therapies targeting other markers such as BCMA and GPRC5D. She detailed previous efficacy data showing initial responses with the agent in a heavily pretreated population of patients who previously received BCMA-directed therapy. Additionally, cevostamab has demonstrated deepening minimal residual disease (MRD)–negative responses among patients enrolled on a phase 2 trial (NCT05801939), according to findings presented at the 2025 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition (ASH).²

Mewawalla is an associate professor at Drexel University, College of Medicine and director of Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy and medical director of Apheresis at Allegheny Health Network.

Transcript:

There is a need for other disease markers because we are now all coming across patients who have [received] BCMA CAR T [cells], who’ve [received] BCMA bispecifics, and talquetamab. There is a need to have a different drug with a different target that works in these patients who are refractory to BCMA and GPRC5D and [are] penta refractory. Cevostamab [may] fill that gap.

Cevostamab was initially studied even in patients who received prior BCMA-directed treatment, and [it] did have response rates ranging from 30% to 40%. It was a very heavily pretreated population. The other area that I was excited to see cevostamab being studied was post–CAR T-cell [therapy] at ASH 2025. Again, there were data presented on using cevostamab post–CAR T-cell [therapy], and it showed a deepening of MRD post-CAR-T after using cevostamab at 1 year, reaching close to 93% MRD negativity, which was [quite] impressive. It makes sense because it helps with T cell fitness [and] prevents with developing resistance, so that was a very exciting study to see as well.

References

1. Mewawalla P. Bispecifics in multiple myeloma: teclistamab, elranatamab, and beyond. Presented at the 2026 National ICE-T (Immune Cell Effector Therapy) Conference; April 18, 2026; Charlotte, NC.
2. Cohen A, Susanibar-Adaniya S, Garfall A, et al. Phase 2 study of cevostamab consolidation following BCMA CAR T cell therapy: preliminary safety, efficacy, and correlative data from the “STEM” (Sequential T Cell-Engagement for Myeloma) trial. Blood. 2025;146(suppl 1):699. doi:10.1182/blood-2025-699