NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Adaptive Biotechnologies, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and the University of Torino today announced a collaboration to assess minimal residual disease (MRD) in multiple myeloma patients during a five-year period.
The collaboration, partly funded by Amgen, seeks to investigate a new approach for monitoring MRD, and will be part of the Inside MM-1 study led by Antonio Palumbo from theUniversityofTorino. Inside MM-1 is a comparative clinical disease monitoring trial, and as part of the collaboration, more than 400 newly diagnosed MM patients will be enrolled in the trial and receive a combination of Kyprolis (carfilzomib) and Revlimid (lenalidomide), followed by a bone marrow transplant with or without maintenance.
Patients will be monitored with flow cytometry and Adaptive Bio's clonoSeq MRD test at regular intervals from initial diagnosis for up to five years afterward. Palumbo said that the goal is to compare the accuracy and reliability of sequencing-based measurements of MRD with advanced flow cytometry in a structured manner.
Adaptive Bio Senior Vice President and General Manager of diagnostic products Tom Willis added, "We are confident that the increased sensitivity the clonoSeq MRD test offers over flow cytometry will be shown to have prognostic value, which will allow better differentiation of patient responses and more personalized treatment strategies."