Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma

For information about the treatments listed below, see the Treatment Option Overview section.

Treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma may include the following:

• Watchful waiting for patients whose disease is stable.
• A different treatment than treatment already given, for patients whose tumor kept growing during treatment. See Multiple Myeloma treatment options.
• The same drugs used before the relapse may be used if the relapse occurs one or more years after initial treatment. See Multiple Myeloma treatment options.

Drugs used may include the following:

• Targeted therapy with monoclonal antibodies (daratumumab, elotuzumab, or isatuximab).
• Targeted therapy with proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib, carfilzomib, or ixazomib).
• Immunotherapy (pomalidomide, lenalidomide, or thalidomide).
• Chemotherapy.
• Corticosteroid therapy.
• A clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with a small molecule inhibitor (selinexor) and corticosteroid therapy.
• A clinical trial of targeted therapy with a BCL2 inhibitor (venetoclax).

Use our clinical trial search to find NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are accepting patients. You can search for trials based on the type of cancer, the age of the patient, and where the trials are being done. General information about clinical trials is also available.