Dr Mark Wildgust on What to Look for From Janssen at ASH

Investigators will be presenting exciting data on several treatments for multiple myeloma at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting, noted Mark Wildgust, PhD, vice president of Global Medical Affairs/Oncology at Janssen.

Transcript

What will be the biggest takeaways from this year’s ASH meeting?

I’m very focused on the on the myeloma sessions today. And I think on the Janssen side, right, we’ve been innovating in the myeloma space for the last 15 years. We have 4 different compounds in the multiple myeloma space being reported on at ASH. We have daratumumab, we have our CAR T cilta-cel, or JNJ-4528. We’re extremely excited to be presenting the first results from our bispecific antibody called talquetamab, which targets GPRC5D. And as a T-cell redirector, these are the first results from that phase 1 study. And then we also reporting updated data from a similar phase 1 study with teclistamab, which is our BCMAxCD3 for multiple myeloma.

You need to build regimens to really advance care for patients. Teclistamab, talquetamab, cilta-cel, daratumumab, we believe that these are all important components to build regimens to get patients towards the ultimate goal of hopefully trying to eradicate disease and get meaningful cure. We’re excited about talquetamab. We’ve reached a recommended phase 2 dose; it seems to be highly efficacious in patients who are triple refractory and run out of options; similarly, teclistamab; similarly, cilta-cel.

So for me, I’m really excited to see the reaction of the medical community about the multiple myeloma data that we’re bringing forward, and we’re already seeing excitement from that. We saw Vincent Rajkumar [S. Vincent Rajkumar, MD, Mayo Clinic] already tweeting out that the talquetamab abstract is his No. 1 favorite for ASH. So tip my hat to Vincent Rajkumar with that. We’re excited about it, too, and I think that we’re on the cusp of continuing to look toward bringing forward new therapies that can really advance care for patients.