Dr. Joseph Mikhael:
Did you know that people of African descent are twice as likely to have multiple myeloma, but when given equal access to therapy may have even better outcomes? Hi, everyone. Dr. Joseph Mikhael here of the International Myeloma Foundation, and I'm going to explain the why and the hope of treating African American patients with multiple myeloma in less than a minute.
We know that patients of African descent like myself have twice the risk of developing multiple myeloma. And historically, sadly, outcomes of patients have been inferior to white patients with multiple myeloma. In fact, a Black man or a Black woman diagnosed with myeloma is expected to live half as long as a same-aged white man or white woman, but that thankfully is changing. As we learn to make the diagnosis more quickly and provide equal access to therapies, we know that African American patients can do just as well, if not better, than their white counterparts.
And that's why at the IMF, we've created the M-Power Program to empower patients and communities to change the course of myeloma, so that we can raise awareness, hasten the diagnosis, and indeed provide the best care possible to all patients with multiple myeloma. For more information about multiple myeloma, or if you have personal questions, please reach out to us at myeloma.org.
