Blood Cancer Trial Challenges How Long Patients Should Stay on Maintenance Drugs

The ENDURANCE trial, a phase 3 study — meaning it tests a treatment directly against current standard care in a large patient group — compared continuous maintenance therapy with fixed-duration treatment in people living with multiple myeloma (a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow). The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the long-held assumption that longer treatment is always better may need revisiting.

Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the UK, according to NHS figures. Maintenance therapy — low-dose treatment given after an initial response to keep the cancer in check — has become standard practice, but how long patients should continue it has remained an open question among specialists.

The journal also published an accompanying editorial under the title Time to Stop? Rethinking the Duration of Maintenance Treatment in Multiple Myeloma, which signals that the trial’s findings are prompting genuine debate within haematology about current clinical practice.

Both pieces were posted by the New England Journal of Medicine’s official account and tagged under haematology, placing them within the broader specialist conversation about blood cancer treatment standards.

For patients currently on maintenance therapy for multiple myeloma, any questions about treatment duration should be directed to their consultant haematologist or specialist nurse — decisions of this kind are always individual and based on a person’s full clinical picture. Anyone with concerns about symptoms or an existing diagnosis can also contact NHS 111 for guidance on next steps.

Key information

• Myeloma UK helpline: 0800 980 3332 — free support for patients and families
• NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day for non-emergency health queries
• Your GP or consultant haematologist is the right first contact for questions about an existing myeloma diagnosis or treatment plan