A plain language summary of daratumumab plus lenalidomide/bortezomib/dexamethasone in transplant-eligible Black patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma in the GRIFFIN study.

WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: This is a summary of a publication about Black participants of the GRIFFIN clinical study that was published in in April 2022. The GRIFFIN clinical study looked at the treatment combination of daratumumab plus a standard therapy for multiple myeloma (called RVd therapy, which stands for lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone) in adult patients who had not been treated before for multiple myeloma and so were considered to have newly diagnosed multiply myeloma. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer of plasma cells. Based on the participants' age, medical history, and indicators of good general health, the participants in the GRIFFIN study were also eligible to receive autologous stem cell transplant as part of their therapy. This summary describes results for the Black participants of the GRIFFIN clinical study who received daratumumab plus RVd therapy (called D-RVd) to see if D-RVd therapy is better than RVd therapy at reducing the amount of multiple myeloma cancer cells in a patient's body.

WHY DID THE RESEARCHERS EVALUATE THE RESULTS FOR BLACK PATIENTS IN THE GRIFFIN STUDY?: Due to racial disparities leading to historically low representation of minority groups in clinical studies, optimal treatments are not defined for Black patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. Since previously published results from the overall population in the GRIFFIN study indicated that D-RVd therapy was better than RVd therapy, the researchers wanted to determine if this was also the case among Black participants.

WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?: Out of 207 participants in the GRIFFIN study, 15% (32 participants) were Black and 78% (161 participants) were White. In both Black and White participants, D-RVd therapy reduced the amount of myeloma cancer cells more than RVd therapy. Additionally, D-RVd and RVd therapy had similar safety results for Black and White participants.

WHAT DO THE RESULTS MEAN?: This analysis of GRIFFIN by race shows that Black people benefit from the daratumumab-containing D-RVd therapy as much as White people. Additionally, D-RVd therapy had similar safety results to RVd therapy for both Black and White people. : NCT02874742 (ClinicalTrials.gov).