St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne conducts first-ever clinical trials for personalised multiple myeloma treatments

The Viber-M trial is applied to nine Australian and New Zealand hospitals.

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM) has performed the world’s first multi-centre clinical trial of a personalised treatment approach for multiple myeloma patients with genetic abnormalities.

Led by researchers from SVHM, the Viber-M trial is tested on nine Australian and New Zealand hospitals, in cooperation with the Australasian Lymphoma Leukaemia Group, that provide tailored treatments for a specific group of patients.

The trial has involved the use of a disease-focused procedure to research an optimum treatment for each patient and their ailment, specifically the genetic abnormality T(11:14) lesion. Prior research had reacted well to BCL2 inhibitors like venetoclax.

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“The Viber-M study represents the first of hopefully many targeted treatment modalities and sparks the era of personalised medicine for multiple myeloma which has never happened until now. Most haematological cancers are still incurable, so survival is dependent on having effective therapies available to patients,” Professor Hang Quach, Director of Haematology at SVHM, said.

After the first run, the Viber-M trial will recruit over 60 patients for two years. And preliminary results will be released after three cycles for the first 10 patients.