IMS announces official list of 2026 major award honorees
IMS President Philippe Moreau, MD, shared the names of the 2026 IMS Award recipients in an announcement last week. The IMS will be celebrating the contributions and dedication of Sagar Lonial, MD (Waldenström Lifetime Achievement Award), Nizar J Bahlis, MD (Ken Anderson Basic and Translational Research Award), and Sonja Zweegman, MD, PhD (Bart Barlogie Clinical Investigator Award) to the field of myeloma at the 23rd IMS Annual Meeting to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in September 2026.
EMA and FDA issue joint guidance on AI use in drug development
In a bilateral collaboration, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency issued guiding principles around use of artificial intelligence (AI) in drug development. The FDA-EMA joint document lays out ten foundational principles for regulators, international standards organizations, and other collaborative agencies to consider regarding responsible AI use, including adoption of a risk-based product lifecycle strategy and updated AI standards.
IMWG publishes recommendations for management of solitary plasmacytomas
The International Myeloma Working Group has published diagnostic and treatment recommendations for solitary plasmacytomas in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. In addition to integrating modern diagnostic methods to help exclude multiple myeloma (MM), the recommendations outline principles of treatment and response assessment.
MRD-negativity post-transplant may not predict better outcomes in high-risk setting
Minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity prognosticates improved progression-free and overall survival (PFS and OS, respectively) outcomes in MM. The role of MRD status in treatment decision-making in myeloma care is an area of active research. A report published in Leukemia assessed PFS outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed MM who achieved MRD negativity after undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation. High-risk cytogenetic factors were associated with inferior PFS, despite early MRD-negative status, suggesting persistent risk driven by disease biology.
New definition of functional high-risk myeloma proposed in the era of quadruplets
“Early relapse,” in the context of functional high-risk (FHR) MM — disease that relapses early and unexpectedly — is historically defined as progression within 18 months of starting treatment. An analysis of outcomes for patients with newly diagnosed MM who received upfront quadruplet-based therapy and transplant, published in Cancer, makes the case for redefining FHR MM as unexpected progression occurring in the first 36 months of therapy.
Linvoseltamab has favorable risk-benefit profile in frail patients with RRMM
In the phase 1/2 LINKER-MM1 trial, the BCMA×CD3 bispecific antibody linvoseltamab showed high response rates and a manageable safety profile in patients with relapsed/refractory MM (RRMM). A post hoc analysis of LINKER-MM1, reported in the Blood Cancer Journal, showed consistent clinical outcomes among patients defined as frail or non-frail, per different frailty instruments.
Why Become a Member
The International Myeloma Society is a professional, scientific, and medical society established to bring together clinical and experimental scientists involved in the study of myeloma. The purpose of this society is to promote research, education, clinical studies (including diagnosis and treatment), workshops, conferences, and symposia on all aspects of multiple myeloma worldwide.
The IMS is a membership organization comprised of basic research scientists, and clinical investigators in the field along with physicians and other healthcare practitioners.
