Bianchi Highlights Personalized Therapy as the Next Frontier in Myeloma and Amyloidosis

At the 2026 International Myeloma Society (IMS) Annual Meeting, Giada Bianchi, MD, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, reflects on how much the multiple myeloma landscape has changed over her career and where she hopes it goes next.

Bianchi recalls that when she was in medical school, lenalidomide (Revlimid) and bortezomib (Velcade) were still in their early days. Even then, she said, their activity as single agents was staggering. Since then, the field has moved at a remarkable pace, and the breadth of therapies now available to patients has been life changing. She notes that the ongoing discussion around defining a cure in myeloma would have been unthinkable 20 years ago.

With so many approaches now available, Bianchi says her personal wish is for the field to focus on tailoring therapy to individual patients. She framed the challenge as a series of questions: What is the right approach for the right patient? How can clinicians avoid overtreating patients whose disease has less aggressive biology? And how can they better support the group of patients with ultra-high-risk myeloma, who do not share the favorable outcomes most patients now see?

A key part of that, she explains, is learning to recognize patients with ultra-high-risk disease before their biology declares itself through treatment. Once identified, the goal is to control this aggressive form of myeloma as effectively as possible.

Despite these open questions, Bianchi describes the outlook for the field as incredibly bright. She also pointed to amyloidosis as a disease on the cusp of major change. Historically associated with dismal life expectancy and outcomes, it is poised to become a more chronic, long-term condition for patients rather than an acutely life-threatening one.