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Trialling a personalised treatment approach for myeloma – The iFIT trial

Professor Gordon Cook and Dr Charlotte Pawlyn will trial a personalised treatment approach for people with myeloma based on how ‘fit’ verses ‘frail’ an individual is and how well their cancer responds to 6 months of standard drug treatments.

Headshots of a man and woman side by side smiling. The man has grey hair and glasses and the woman brown hair.

Professor Gordon Cook and Dr Charlotte Pawlyn

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The project aims

Myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects blood cells in the bone marrow. Although myeloma can be treated, it currently has no cure. As individuals with myeloma are often treated with a stem cell transplant, many are too old or frail to receive this gruelling treatment, which has severe side-effects.

The team want to discover the best treatments that both improve survival and quality of life for newly diagnosed myeloma patients by:

  • Personalising treatment for people with myeloma based on their level of frailty and how their cancer responds to treatment.
  • Testing new immunotherapies for those with myeloma who are fitter but still have signs of cancer after six months, to see if these treatments are more effective.
  • Reducing side effects for people with myeloma who are frailer, allowing them to stay on other treatments longer without worsening their cancer.

The project

We’re funding the iFIT trial in partnership withCancer Research UK at the University of Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research, to discover the best treatments that both improve survival and quality of life for those newly diagnosed with myeloma. This personalised approach will be based on how ‘fit’ or ‘frail’ an individual is and how well their cancer responds to 6 months of standard drug treatments. For ‘fit’ individuals who still have signs of cancer after 6 months, the trial will see if treatments that harness the body’s own immune system, are more effective than standard drug treatments.

For frailer individuals who still have signs of cancer after 6 months, the team will test stopping a specific drug that is part of the standard drug treatments. Researchers hope that by stopping this specific drug, which often causes severe side effects, could mean individuals are able to continue having other drug treatments for a longer. If their cancer isn’t detectable after six months, the trial will explore if treatment can safely stop after two years instead of continuing longer.