Patients and Clinicians Share Real-World Myeloma Treatment Experiences at ASH 2025 Panel Event

Mateo Mejia, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine, reflected on the “Meaningful Moments in Multiple Myeloma” panel event at the 67th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition. This community-centered event brought together patients, advocates, and clinicians to share real-world experiences with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy.

Dr. Meija described the importance of connecting with patients outside traditional clinical encounters and how emotional and psychosocial patient outcomes intersect with clinical outcomes.

“As clinicians, it's always great to see the data. But the most important moment for us is when we see the data translating [from] clinical events [to] meaningful moments for our patients,” Dr. Meija shared. “This event highlighted those moments we cherish when we are able to give patients treatment-free intervals so they can enjoy a vacation they never thought they would be able to have or do activities they [couldn’t do] before because their disease or treatments were challenging.”

For Dr. Meija, the main takeaway of this panel is to consider patient preferences, as many treatments have emerged from patient suggestions and patient-reported outcomes.
“Understanding toxicity is important because grading is complicated, and sometimes it does not translate to the full experience of our patients,” he said. “Listening to our patients is critical.”