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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
AbbVie's experimental therapy etentamig showed strong results in a late-stage trial for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, hitting its primary goals. The drug achieved a 74% objective response rate — far above the 45.7% seen with standard treatments — and slashed the risk of disease progression or death by 60%. It also kept 87.9% of patients alive at 12 months, versus 72% on standard care.
AbbVie's experimental blood cancer drug etentamig has cleared a major hurdle, meeting the primary goals of a late-stage clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma — a form of blood cancer that has either returned after remission or stopped responding to treatment. The 393-patient trial showed etentamig significantly outperformed standard therapies across key measures.
The drug works by engaging T-cells — the immune system's cancer-fighting soldiers — through a dual-protein targeting mechanism. Patients in the trial had previously received a median of three prior lines of treatment, making this a heavily pre-treated, difficult-to-treat population.
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Why it matters: For patients with few remaining options, etentamig could offer a meaningful new treatment path. Analysts note it may be most valuable as a follow-up therapy after CAR-T cell treatment, given its immediate availability, monthly dosing, and broader accessibility across treatment centers — advantages that set it apart from existing cell therapies like J&J's Carvykti.
