We are going to present at ASCO 2019 the results of a phase III randomised study, the name of the study is CASSIOPEIA, dedicated to patients with multiple myeloma, front line treatment, young patients eligible for stem cell transplantation. It is a prospective comparison of bortezomib thalidomide and dexamethasone, the VTd regimen, followed by stem cell transplantation followed by VTd consolidation plus or minus daratumumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD38. The primary endpoint of the study was to compare the quality of the response, the stringent complete response rate, after consolidation and before maintenance. We also looked at progression free survival, overall survival and we looked also at the rate of minimal residual disease at the completion of consolidation and before maintenance.

So we are clearly demonstrating on a very large number of patients, more than 1,000 patients were randomised, that the addition of daratumumab is increasing the quality of the response, the depth of the response, the stringent CR rate but also the minimal residual disease negativity rate. This translates into a better progression free survival, so the number of patients dying or progressing from their disease is reduced with the addition of daratumumab.

This study probably will be a game changer because we are going to introduce systematically daratumumab in the setting of stem cell transplantation and potentially we will be able to cure some patients with the addition of high dose treatment.