The 2026 IMS Annual Meeting is underway in Glasgow, bringing together more than 3,800 in-person and virtual attendees to share new research and discuss advances in myeloma care.

A new definition of cure
For most of its history, multiple myeloma has been considered incurable. That is changing. On Wednesday, Nikhil C. Munshi, MD, IMS Immediate Past-President, presented a consensus definition developed by IMS and the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) for when a patient can be considered cured.

Under the definition, a patient may be considered cured after five years in complete remission without myeloma treatment, alongside rigorous testing for residual disease and imaging that shows no detectable disease. The five years begin when treatment ends. A report outlining the consensus definition is in development.

Read the IMS announcement · See the coverage in Pharmacy Times

Research and clinical discussions so far
The meeting’s core sessions have taken on questions clinicians face across the course of care:

• Newly diagnosed myeloma: Upfront quadruplet-based induction, the current and evolving role of transplant, and systematic measurable residual disease (MRD) assessment outside clinical trials.

• First relapse: How to choose and sequence treatment amid new approvals and shifting approaches to care.

• Blood-based monitoring: The potential of liquid biopsies, while bone marrow-based assessments remain the gold standard.

The first six Abstract Sessions have also featured results across treatment, monitoring and quality of life, including:

• MajesTEC-3: A mixed cure model applied to trial data showed a statistical cure fraction of 86.6% with teclistamab plus daratumumab in relapsed/refractory myeloma, compared with 0% with daratumumab-based triplets.

• ProMMise: Findings on the feasibility of using patient-reported visual symptoms to guide belantamab mafodotin dosing instead of ocular assessments.

• UKMRA RADAR: Quality of life data focused on patients with ultra high-risk myeloma.

• TRIlogy-1: Updated findings for ramantamig, a BCMA × GPRC5d trispecific antibody, showed two-year progression-free survival of more than 80% in BCMA/GPRC5d-naïve, triple drug class-exposed patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma.

Joint sessions with AACR and EHA brought perspectives from across cancer research, exploring the gut microbiome’s role in immune-based therapies, lessons from molecular classification in acute myeloid leukemia, and the development and responsible use of AI tools in myeloma care.

Celebrating the 2026 IMS awardees
The IMS Awards Ceremony recognized Sonja Zweegman, MD, PhD, with the Bart Barlogie Clinical Investigator Award; Nizar J. Bahlis, MD, with the Ken Anderson Basic and Translational Research Award; and Sagar Lonial, MD, FACP, FASCO, with the Waldenström Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations to all three!

Still to come at #IMS26

Today’s highly anticipated Plenary Session will bring six abstracts selected by the Scientific Program Committee before the full meeting. They span frontline treatment and first relapse, next-generation immunotherapies, an in vivo CAR-T approach and research on high-risk disease.

The remaining program also includes a special session with patient groups from North America, Europe, the UK and Asia-Pacific; sessions on immune monitoring, infection prevention and emerging therapies; the Riney Session; and six more Abstract Sessions.

On the final day, speakers will debate the future roles of CAR-T therapy, antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific antibodies, before closing with Highlights of the 2026 Annual Meeting. View the full program.

Catch up on #IMS26: Register for on-demand access to meeting content, available through December 2026.