A plain language summary describing how talquetamab affects the way people with multiple myeloma feel and function in the MonumenTAL-1 study

Plain Language SummaryWhat is this summary about?This summary is based on results published in the journal, Cancer, and describes the health-related quality of life reported by people receiving talquetamab to treat multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer. Talquetamab is a drug used for people with multiple myeloma who stopped responding (relapsed), did not respond (refractory) to previous treatment, and/or were unable to continue previous treatments due to side effects.How was the study conducted?Before starting talquetamab, at cycle 1 (1 cycle is 28 days or 1 month), and every other cycle, participants completed three questionnaires about their health-related quality of life. Participants answered questions about their overall health, function (physical, emotional, social, mental, and ability to do daily activities), symptoms, and severity of their disease symptoms.What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers?Participants reported feeling worse initially about their overall health, function, and symptoms upon starting talquetamab (first three cycles), but reported improvements after cycle 3: participants felt their physical, emotional, and social function, and their ability to perform daily activities had improved or stayed the same. They felt less tired, experienced less pain, experienced less shortness of breath, and reported improvements in overall disease severity. At cycle 21, participants continued to feel better and reported improvements across the measures. These results add to the promising clinical results of talquetamab and show that over time talquetamab also improves how people with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma feel and function.Clinical trial number: NCT03399799 and NCT04634552