Talquetamab and Its Effect on Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) remains a challenging condition despite many advances in immunotherapies. Outcomes are particularly dismal in patients who are refractory to these three major classes of proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. Novel bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) have shown some promising efficacy in heavily pretreated patients, even those with triple- and penta-refractory disease. Talquetamab is a BsAb recently approved for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Talquetamab demonstrated a high overall response rate of approximately 70%, including in patients that are previously treated with T-cell therapies. The safety profile of talquetamab is consistent with other BsAbs, with similar adverse events. The efficacy of talquetamab and other therapies, including CAR-T cell treatments, remains an area of active research, as resistance to anti-B-cell maturation antigen therapies poses a clinical challenge. Current trials are exploring the use of talquetamab in combination therapies. There is now adequate data to further support talquetamab's efficacy, making it a very important addition to the RRMM treatment domain.