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Foundation for the NIH Consortium Launches Multiple Myeloma Biomarker Discovery Project

NEW YORK – The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium this week said it is launching a project to evaluate tumor and immune biomarkers that predict progression of multiple myeloma and identify patients likely to benefit from early treatment.

FNIH has allocated $4.5 million to the three-year project, which it is spearheading with the US National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, and private and academic organizations.

Precancerous conditions such as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma often precede the development of multiple myeloma. Around three percent of people over 50 years old are affected by one of those conditions, and they are more common among African-American individuals and those with a family history of myeloma. About one percent of patients with MGUS will progress to smoldering multiple myeloma and half of those cases will develop multiple myeloma within two years. Currently, the only option for early screening is a bone marrow biopsy, which is risky and invasive.

In the project, dubbed MMyeRisk, FNIH aims to encourage stakeholders to develop prognostic biomarkers and tools for monitoring response to therapy in patients with MGUS and smoldering multiple myeloma. It also wants to validate blood-based biomarkers that can identify patients at high risk of developing multiple myeloma.

"There is an urgent need to accurately define the patient population at risk for developing multiple myeloma and to intervene early to prevent end-organ damage and improve survival," Stacey Adam, VP of science partnerships at FNIH, said in a statement.