As the International Myeloma Society (IMS) Annual Meeting is taking place this week, we caught up with myeloma expert Prof Faith Davies from NYU Langone about her expectations for the meeting and why it is important for patient advocacy groups like MPE to attend.

What are you looking forward to most about IMS 2026?

I am really looking forward to spending four days talking and thinking about myeloma! There has been so much happening in the field recently that concentrating on the new advances will be incredible. IMS gives me chance to think about how I can incorporate the new advances into my own practice, and what the knowledge gaps are for new research.

The myeloma community is quite small, so the meeting is also great opportunity to meet up with old friends and colleagues. It is often conversations over coffee (or a beer!) that have the greatest impact. For example, hearing how someone has successfully managed a difficult clinical case or learning about a new laboratory technique. 

You are chairing the plenary abstract session. What is the key data we will see in this session?

It is a real honour to chair the plenary abstract session which showcases some of the most exciting abstracts at the meeting. These abstracts cover important topics such as long-term outcomes for newly diagnosed patients, novel treatments for relapsed patients and new insights on the biology of myeloma.

Some of the abstracts are reporting their data about the results of clinical trials including data on etentamig, a second-generation BCMA x CD3 bispecific antibody; iberdomide, a CELMOD and an in-vivo dual targeting CART. We also have two more laboratory-based abstracts. One looking at how a protein called NSD2 can be therapeutically targeted in patients with t(4;14) myeloma and another looking at how we can identify ultra high-risk patients who may not respond well to current therapies.

What other developments should MPE and our members be paying attention to?

A key theme throughout the meeting will be about safety and efficacy of bispecific and CAR T-cell therapies, including a session on infections. There will also be a lot of discussions on the best sequencing of treatments for patients and on side-effect management. For me, it is not yet clear what the best sequences of treatment are for patients, so I am looking forward to hearing people’s views and joining in the lively debates!

Why is it important for patient groups like MPE to be involved in IMS?

One of the main reasons so much progress has been made in myeloma is the ability of everyone to work together, including researchers, pharmaceutical companies, doctors and nurses, regulatory agencies, patient organisations and patients. It is so important that everyone has a seat at the table particularly as there are so many advances in therapy, many of which have big implications for treating physicians, healthcare utilisation and patient life expectancy. MPE will be able to present their research, learn about new developments and, importantly, share their perspectives on what patients think, need, and value as we move forward together.