MOSAIC V1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Myeloma Observational Study for Advancing Individualised Care
IRAS ID
321088
Contact name
Karthik Ramasamy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Myeloma (MM) is an incurable blood cancer. While survival has substantially improved over the last decade, there is still huge variability in clinical outcomes between patients. The current approach to drug development assumes that all patients respond similarly to a given drug despite the fact that only a third of MM patients are eligible to take part in therapeutic clinical trials. Within the NHS, the current treatment approach to MM means that all patients receive the same treatments according to a standardised algorithm, even though we know that patients will respond differently based on the genetic, or “molecular” characteristics of their cancer. At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of new “biomarker” technologies that can provide more detailed diagnostic and staging information about an individual patient’s cancer and how it behaves. With this knowledge, we can move away from a “one size fits all” approach to the treatment and care of patients with MM, to one which uses new biomarkers to characterise a patients’ cancer more precisely and target treatment more accurately to achieve the best outcome. However, adoption of new technologies within the NHS happens very slowly, due to the high costs associated with the tests themselves as well as the requirements to integrate them into routine care. Therefore, we set out to develop evidence in an unbiased cohort of myeloma patients treated in routine care with available therapeutics and novel biomarker tests with the goal of advancing individualised care.
Patients with suspected or confirmed MM or related PCDs will be invited to join the study by clinicians who supervise their diagnosis and treatment planning. Patients who consent agree to use of excess diagnostic material for molecular tests, to provide an extra blood test, collection of their pseudonymised clinical and laboratory data, and completion of questionnaires. Consented participants may be invited to join individual sub-protocols to study new biomarkers or treatments targeted to their specific disease profile. All the data collected will comply with data protection legislation including being pseudonymised (direct identifiers removed), but a link to direct identifiers remains so that, depending on participant consent, study data may be returned for use by the standard of care MM multidisciplinary team and communication back to the study participant and responsible physicians to guide clinical manangement.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/NW/0227
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion