Novel Drug Class is Convenient and Meaningful in Multiple Myeloma Landscape

In a conversation with CancerNetwork^®, Shebli Atrash, MD, discussed how novel CELMoDs may impact the treatment paradigm for patients with multiple myeloma. He noted how these agents appear to be more potent and active in refractory diseases compared with previously developed immunomodulatory drugs.

According to Atrash, medical oncologist at Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute and clinical associate professor at Wake Forest University, CeLMoDs may boost tumor killing while presenting a convenient option to patients based on their orally available formulations. The design of these drugs, he said, may represent a “meaningful” advance in a treatment field defined by continuous infusions or injections of cellular therapy.

Atrash described how specific agents like iberdomide and mezigdomide have demonstrated positive phase 3 results. Based on these results, he said that the CELMoD class will be clinically relevant to patients.

Of note, the FDA had accepted a new drug application (NDA) seeking approval for iberdomide plus daratumumab (Darzalex) as a therapeutic combination among those with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in February 2026. A potential approval of this regimen is expected by the Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of August 17, 2026.

Transcript:

CELMoDs are very important. They build on what we already learned from immune modulators, but [they] appear more potent and potentially active in more refractory multiple myeloma. As a concept, the class offers a way to deepen the cereblon-mediated immune activation, therefore improving tumor killing while preserving the convenience of an oral backbone. Those medications are taken orally and can be combined with multiple other immune therapies, which is [quite] convenient and meaningful in a landscape increasingly dominated by continuous infusions or injections and highly focused on immune therapy and cellular therapy.

Iberdomide already has phase 3 momentum in relapsed myeloma, and mezigdomide has now generated positive phase 3 results as well, which tells us that this class is not [only] interesting biologically, but also clinically relevant to our patients.

Reference

U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepts Bristol Myers Squibb's new drug application for iberdomide in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. News release. Bristol Myers Squibb. February 17, 2026. Accessed April 17, 2026. https://tinyurl.com/4c8mb6ex