The Road to the Cure: 2026 Marks the Closest the Myeloma Community Has Come to the Finish Line 

The International Myeloma Society (IMS) convened for a Myeloma Cure Summit in March 2026.  The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) was there, and our experts gleaned insights on how to define cure in myeloma today. At this meeting, the concept of cure moved from a theoretical aspiration to a formal clinical definition. This definition can be used as a framework in clinical trials and patient care. Although the definition remains in draft form, there was consensus on the key aspects of the definition: 

• Patients must be off therapy for at least 5 years.
• There must be no evidence of disease, as noted by the following criteria:    
  • Patients must be in complete remission (CR).
  • Testing for minimal residual disease (MRD) must be negative at least 4 times, a year apart, in the 5 years of no treatment.
  • Advanced functional imaging shows no evidence of disease at the start and end of the 5 years (with no activity in between).
• This can be applied to patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed multiple myeloma.  

Defining Cure in Multiple Myeloma 

According to IMF Medical Advisor Dr. Joseph Mikhael, from TGen at the City of Hope, in Phoenix, Arizona, the key distinction between cure and disease control is that patients can stop treatment and remain free of detectable disease for an extended period. In this video (https://www.myeloma.org/videos/cure-really-means-multiple-myeloma-mrd-long-term-remission-explained), Dr. Mikhael explained, "The proposed definition is that people are actually only treated for a defined period of time."  

He contrasted this with chronic conditions such as diabetes or hypertension, where treatment is ongoing. For myeloma, "We want people to be treated for a period of time and then they go off treatment, and they stay in that remission for over five years with no evidence of disease."  

This emphasis on both treatment-free survival and sustained remission is central to the IMS definition. As Dr. Mikhael noted, "That's really what distinguishes cure from just long-term control."  

More Than Being in Remission

The proposed definition requires more than simply feeling well or having stable disease. Patients must demonstrate persistent absence of myeloma through multiple testing methods.

Dr. Mikhael further explained that the cure definition includes ongoing monitoring with minimal residual disease (MRD) testing:

"The proposed cure definition includes that patients would have MRD testing at least four times over a five-year timeframe when they're off treatment."  

In addition to MRD testing, the definition incorporates blood tests, bone marrow evaluation, and imaging studies.  

In the same video, IMF Nurse Leadership Board Member Beth Faiman, PhD, MSN, APN-BC, AOCN®, BMTCN®, FAAN, FAPO, from the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, highlighted that "the serum, the bone marrow, and the imaging, that all needs to be together included for that cure definition."  

A Definition Intended for All Patients

Importantly, the IMS consensus definition is not limited to newly diagnosed patients. Dr. Mikhael stated that the group was "very careful" to create a definition that "should apply to all patients with myeloma," including both newly diagnosed and relapsed patients.  

The goal is to establish a common benchmark that can be used across studies and treatment settings, allowing researchers and clinicians to evaluate curative strategies consistently.

MRD Negativity as a Critical Milestone

IMF Scientific Advisory Board Member and IMF International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) Member, Dr. Saad Usmani, from Memorial Sloat Kettering in New York, described sustained MRD negativity as the pathway toward cure. He explained that physicians aim to use modern therapies to drive patients into deep remissions. These therapies include quadruplet induction regimens, bispecific antibodies, and CAR T-cell therapies. In this Facebook Live (https://www.myeloma.org/videos/qa-ask-me-anything-about-myeloma-dr-saad-usmani), Dr. Usmani said, "We want our patients to go into a deep response, which is called MRD negativity."  

He added that patients should remain MRD-negative for several years before treatment discontinuation is considered. 

At that point, clinicians look for no detectable disease on PET imaging, blood tests, bone marrow examination, and MRD assessment before stopping therapy. Risk status and other factors may also affect this decision as it may not be appropriate to stop therapy in some patients.

The Five-Year Treatment-Free Benchmark

Dr. Usmani's description closely mirrors the IMS consensus framework. Also, in the aforementioned Facebook Live, he said, "Many of us feel that once patients have achieved MRD negativity in that fashion, and we discontinue treatment and patients stay in remission, with very deep response for at least five years (if not more); then we'd be comfortable to say that myeloma is likely cured in this situation."  

This five-year treatment-free period with ongoing evidence of disease eradication has emerged as the practical threshold for defining cure.

From Hope to Reality

The significance of these discussions is that cure is no longer viewed as a distant possibility. Dr. Mikhael noted that the myeloma community came together to define cure because "this is no longer just a theoretical conversation."  

Similarly, in this Facebook Live (https://www.myeloma.org/blog/facebook-live-summary-dr-sagar-lonial-answers-myeloma-questions), IMF Scientific Advisory Board Member and IMF IMWG Member Dr. Sagar Lonial from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, described a remarkable milestone following the IMS Cure Summit. He said, "I walked into a patient's room and had the privilege of telling them that based on that definition from a consensus group of myeloma physicians from around the world, that this patient met the definition of cured myeloma."  

Dr. Usmani acknowledged that some patients have likely already been cured over the past two decades, although the proportion has been very small. The aspiration now is to make cure achievable for the majority of patients, "We want the majority of our patients to be cured, where we treat patients, they're off treatment, and the stuff never comes back."  

What the IMS Cure Definition Means in 2026

In practical terms, the IMS cure framework defines cure as a structured process in which treatment is given for a fixed duration rather than indefinitely, leading to deep, sustained MRD-negative remission with no disease detectable by blood tests, bone marrow evaluation, or imaging. Therapy is then discontinued, and patients remain both disease-free and treatment-free for at least five years, with serial MRD assessments confirming ongoing remission. For the first time in multiple myeloma, experts are not only treating cure as an aspirational goal but also establishing clear criteria to define and measure it.

IMF President and CEO Heather Cooper Ortner Weighs In on the Future of Cure in Myeloma

While the myeloma community is now defining what cure looks like, in this video (https://www.myeloma.org/heather-cooper-ortner-imf-ceo-welcome), IMF President and CEO Heather Cooper Ortner shared that she believes the work is far from over. Looking ahead, she said her hope for the next five years is simple: "Number one is we did it. There's a cure."  

Yet she states that achieving cure will not mark the last destination on this road. "Although once we've reached a cure, there will still be people being diagnosed with myeloma, and we need to make sure that everybody who has a diagnosis at any point in the future can access care."  

For Cooper Ortner, the next chapter will require continued investment in research, clinical trials, advocacy, support, and ultimately prevention. "While we're able to treat people and get them to cure, we might not yet be at prevention, but we're going to get there."