Daratumumab and its potential in the treatment of multiple myeloma: overview of the preclinical and clinical development

Abstract

Despite the recent major advancement in therapy for multiple myeloma, it remains an incurable disease. There remains an unmet need for novel therapies that target different mechanisms of action. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies is a promising area of development and will expand our therapeutic armamentarium in the fight against myeloma. Daratumumab is a novel, high-affinity, therapeutic human monoclonal antibody against unique CD38 epitope with broad-spectrum killing activity. It has a favorable safety profile as monotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma and also demonstrates significant single-agent activity. Abundant preclinical data supports its use in combination therapy and clinical studies on various exciting combinations are underway. This review focuses on the CD38 antigen and its targeting with daratumumab and provides an update on the results of recent clinical studies involving daratumumab.