On October 20, 2025, the landscape of multiple myeloma care and research was thrust into the spotlight from two different but deeply connected perspectives. Dr. C. Ola Landgren, leader of the Translational and Clinical Oncology Program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, announced the recruitment of Dr. Rafat Abonour and Dr. Gil Hevroni to the Sylvester Myeloma Institute at the University of Miami. Meanwhile, Michael Andreini, president and CEO of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), issued a clarion call: despite remarkable advances, the fight against multiple myeloma is far from over and complacency is a risk the community cannot afford.
The Sylvester Myeloma Institute’s announcement is more than a simple expansion of staff; it’s a signal of the rapid growth and ambition of a program determined to provide world-class myeloma care across South Florida and beyond. "We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Rafat Abonour and Dr. Gil Hevroni aboard as clinical faculty at Sylvester Myeloma Institute, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami, in beautiful Miami!" Dr. Landgren shared enthusiastically, highlighting the institute’s commitment to meeting the burgeoning needs of patients. The institute now offers its comprehensive clinical trials portfolio and expert care at multiple outpatient locations—including Miami, Coral Gables, Doral, Aventura, and Deerfield—while also maintaining inpatient services at UHealth Tower in Miami.
What sets Sylvester apart is its unique status: it’s the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center in South Florida, serving a catchment area of over 6.4 million people. This is no small feat, especially considering that Florida leads the nation in the number of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients, accounting for more than 10% of all new U.S. cases. With Miami as the state’s largest city, the demand for specialized, cutting-edge care is immense. The Sylvester Myeloma Institute is determined to deliver, not just locally but also to patients from across the U.S. and internationally.
According to Dr. Landgren, the institute’s clinical trials portfolio is extensive and focuses primarily on Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials, ensuring that patients have access to the latest anti-myeloma drugs. The research arm is equally robust, boasting a world-class computational discovery laboratory and an epigenetic research wet lab, both of which drive innovative studies and foster collaborations with leading centers worldwide. "Ultimately, we are seeking to develop curative strategies for multiple myeloma," Dr. Landgren stated, underscoring the institute’s forward-looking mission.
Yet, as the Sylvester Myeloma Institute expands its reach and capabilities, a parallel message from the MMRF serves as a sobering counterbalance. Michael Andreini’s address, published the same day, confronts a growing disconnect between recent optimistic headlines and the reality faced by patients and clinicians. While news outlets have touted a “potential” or “functional” cure for multiple myeloma, Andreini cautions against mistaking progress for victory. "Multiple myeloma remains incurable," he emphasized, despite the fact that more than 15 FDA-approved therapies have nearly doubled the five-year survival rate to over 60%.
The numbers, though encouraging, are still grim: in 2025 alone, approximately 36,000 Americans will receive a multiple myeloma diagnosis, and over 12,000 will die from the disease. "We have come far, but we are not finished," Andreini wrote, urging the community to resist the temptation of complacency at a time when the stakes are higher than ever.
Andreini outlined three major challenges that must be addressed to turn today’s progress into tomorrow’s cures. First, as therapies become more effective, each new advance is harder won—costing more, taking longer, and yielding smaller incremental benefits. Early breakthroughs targeted the disease’s most obvious mechanisms, but now, the remaining targets are less understood and more difficult to address. This reality presents a daunting environment for drugmakers, who face increased complexity, risk, and limited commercial opportunities.
To bridge this gap, Andreini points to innovative funding approaches such as the Myeloma Investment Fund (MIF), which has deployed over $23 million since 2019 to support early-stage companies working on promising therapies. "Without intervention, transformative therapies will die in laboratories and never reach patients who need them," he warned. He advocates for a strategic focus on areas of greatest need—such as high-risk multiple myeloma—and for continued collaboration with the FDA to streamline approval processes. Notably, a recent FDA advisory committee accepted minimal residual disease (MRD) as a new efficacy measure, allowing clinical trials to assess whether cancer cells have been eliminated from the body much sooner, potentially accelerating drug approvals.
The second challenge is scientific complexity. The "low-hanging fruit" of multiple myeloma research has been picked. The next wave of discovery demands tackling complex biological questions, particularly within the immune microenvironment. This shift requires not only advanced technology but also unprecedented data sharing. The MMRF has led the charge with initiatives like CoMMpass and the forthcoming Virtual Lab, pooling data from pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and nonprofits. "When datasets...are pooled—and especially now with the applications of AI—the collective intelligence generates actionable therapeutic insights with unprecedented speed and precision," Andreini asserted.
The third and perhaps most urgent challenge is access. Cutting-edge treatments such as CAR T cell therapies, which can render multiple myeloma undetectable, remain out of reach for many patients due to their complexity and the need for specialized facilities. "A breakthrough treatment that can’t reach patients isn’t a breakthrough at all," Andreini observed, calling for the next generation of therapies to be not just effective, but deliverable to all who need them, regardless of geography or economic status.
Both the Sylvester Myeloma Institute and the MMRF are united by a relentless drive to improve outcomes for patients. While Sylvester expands its clinical footprint and research capabilities in a state with the nation’s highest incidence of new cases, the MMRF is pushing the entire field to confront the hardest challenges—funding, scientific complexity, and access—with urgency and collaboration.
As the fight against multiple myeloma enters a new era, the message from Miami to the national research community is clear: remarkable progress has been made, but the work is far from done. The stakes—measured in lives and families—demand nothing less than unwavering commitment, innovation, and a refusal to settle for anything short of a cure.
