Multiple Myeloma is a form of plasma cell malignancy, which under normal conditions helps the body fight infections.
However, when they multiply uncontrollably, they displace normal plasma cells from the bone marrow. It is the second most common hematologic malignancy in the world after lymphomas, with more than 130,000 newly diagnosed people each year1, mainly between the ages of 65 and 75, while the incidence of men is one and a half times higher than that of women2.
Symptoms may initially be absent. But when the disease progresses, there is bone pain that may be persistent or recur and be accompanied by fractures. Patients report, among other things, persistent fatigue due to anemia or renal failure (which occurs in 50% of patients), as well as frequent infections and neurological disorders.
Until 15 years ago, Multiple Myeloma was classified as an incurable disease and life expectancy did not exceed five years. With the stormy developments in the therapeutic field, the average survival now exceeds 10 years. However, due to the lack of treatment options to ensure complete cure, almost all people who develop Multiple Myeloma and receive treatment will experience a relapse in the future. In this case we are talking about Recurrent Multiple Myeloma. Relapsing patients show resistance to treatment, while when they show no response to treatment the disease is described as Resistant Multiple Myeloma.
The above data highlight the urgent need to explore new therapeutic factors that will address the problem of relapse and persistence, while at the same time evidencing the value of information. Public awareness is directly linked to the increase in early diagnosis rates, which provides more treatment options for newly diagnosed individuals.
In this context, Sanofi presents an information campaign for Multiple Myeloma, entitled “Together in Life”, with the main tool of a documentary, which aims to contribute decisively to the information of the public, to highlight with sensitivity the daily effort patients and carers to manage the disease, but also to highlight optimistic scientific developments. Participants’ descriptions outline the fear of disease progression and the effects of physical symptoms. At the same time, however, they are contrasted with the hope that the amazing therapeutic achievements and the enhanced mental strength as a result of the battle with a disease that science has radically redefined, making it a treatable disease.
Watch the documentary and find out more about Multiple Myeloma at www.sanofi.gr.
1. International Myeloma Foundation. March Myeloma Action Month website. https://mam.myeloma.org/learn-more-about-multiple-myeloma/. Accessed March 2021.
2. National Cancer Institute. Cancer stat facts: myeloma. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/mulmy.html. Accessed January 2019.
MAT-GR-2200185 – V 1.0 – 4/2022
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