Mount Sinai Highlights Key Updates and Trends for Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month 2025
Samir Parekh, MD, Director of the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma at Mount Sinai, consulting a patient.
Photo by Mount Sinai Health System
This March, the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai is raising awareness about multiple myeloma—a cancer of blood plasma cells in the bone marrow that impairs the body’s ability to fight infections and causes damage to kidneys and bones. Multiple myeloma care has undergone dramatic transformations thanks to groundbreaking research and innovative therapies.
Over the last four decades, life expectancy has more than quadrupled, and patients now have access to treatments that offer longer remissions and improved quality of life. Mount Sinai’s multiple myeloma program is the largest in New York City and one of the largest in the world, with more than 600 new patients annually, and remains at the forefront of these advancements, pioneering novel approaches that are reshaping the future of myeloma care.
Despite recent advances, multiple myeloma remains the second most common blood cancer in the United States, with an estimated 12,540 deaths in 2024, according to the National Institutes of Health. The rate of new cases of myeloma was 7.2 per 100,000 men and women per year. In 2021, an estimated 179,063 people were living with myeloma in the United States. Although multiple myeloma is rare, Black people are more likely to develop and die from it than white people. Black men and women have a greater than two-fold higher incidence of multiple myeloma.
"The Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma at Mount Sinai is recognized globally as a leader in patient care and translational research," says Samir Parekh, MD, Director of the Center. "We have built the largest multiple myeloma program in New York City and one of the largest in the country. Our team is specially equipped to provide expert care. Multiple myeloma is a complex disease, and it is best treated by specialists who see myeloma patients daily and have a deep understanding of its biology."
The AQUILA Study
One of the most exciting recent developments in multiple myeloma is the possibility of avoiding organ damage by treating its precursor, smoldering myeloma, as shown by the AQUILA trial, which enrolled 390 patients from 124 centers with a duration of smoldering myeloma of up to five years. Smoldering multiple myeloma is a condition where the cancer is not actively progressing but has the potential to develop into full-blown multiple myeloma. The AQUILA trial focused on the efficacy of daratumumab in delaying progression of smoldering myeloma in this patient population. Mount Sinai is participating in a related study (DETER), which also treats smoldering myeloma with daratumumab.
“Our participation in the DETER study is an essential step toward more personalized early-intervention treatments for multiple myeloma that can provide an overall survival benefit,” says Cesar Rodriguez Valdes, MD, Clinical Director of Multiple Myeloma at The Mount Sinai Hospital. “By refining our approach, we can prevent many patients from developing kidney failure or pathologic fracture (bone fracture that occurs in a patient with multiple myeloma cancer).”
CAR-T Cell Therapy Program
Mount Sinai's CAR-T cell therapy program is revolutionizing the treatment landscape for multiple myeloma by harnessing a patient’s own immune cells to fight the disease. Mount Sinai’s CAR-T cell therapy program is one of the most advanced in the country, providing cutting-edge treatment options to eligible patients. The program recently became the first to use CAR-T as an initial treatment as part of a clinical trial, CARTITUDE 6, currently open to accrual.
“CAR-T therapy represents a paradigm shift in how we treat multiple myeloma,” states Adriana Rossi, MD, Director of Multiple Myeloma CAR-T and Stem Cell Transplant Clinical Program at Mount Sinai. “Our work in this space is delivering remarkable outcomes for patients who previously had limited options.”
MRD and Evolving Treatments
Minimal residual disease (MRD) testing is transforming the way clinicians assess treatment response and guide therapy adjustments. The ability to detect even the smallest traces of cancer cells allows for more personalized and effective treatment strategies. Mount Sinai researchers are furthering this work with cutting-edge laboratory-based research, supported by a $7 million grant from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, to fast-track novel translational concepts for high-risk myeloma patients. Given the remarkable progress in therapy, using progression-free survival is not feasible and MRD provides a surrogate, which can be reported in months and not years.
“MRD testing is a crucial tool in determining how well patients are responding to treatment and in shaping future therapeutic strategies,” explains Joshua Richter, MD, FACP, Director of Myeloma at The Blavatnik Family Chelsea Medical Center. “As treatments continue to evolve, MRD will play an increasingly central role in achieving deeper and more sustained remissions; and one day a cure.”
As a global leader in multiple myeloma patient care and translational research, the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma has been a key contributor to nearly every major approval for new myeloma therapies over the past decade. Its physicians and researchers are internationally recognized in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple myeloma at all stages, including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and smoldering myeloma, as well as related diseases such as amyloidosis, Castleman disease, POEMS syndrome, and Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia.
To learn more about the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma visit: https://www.mountsinai.org/care/cancer/services/multiple-myeloma
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.
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