MPE Masterclass 2025: From empowering carers to AI-powered personalised treatment

The annual Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE) Masterclass took place this year in Warsaw, Poland, between 2–4 May. Together, representatives from 53 patient organisations, including Myeloma UK, shared insights, experiences and best practice from across Europe.

Carers count – a conversation about support

This year, Myeloma UK representatives Denise Young (Peer Service Coordinator) and Prabneet Parmar (Support Groups Coordinator) were invited to speak about the support that we provide for carers.

We know that carers can feel left behind when it comes to support, but at Myeloma UK we’re here for everyone affected by myeloma. So, at MPE, Denise showcased two of our services geared for carers;

• The Peer Buddy Service – offers one-to-one support for people affected by myeloma by pairing them up with like-minded Peer Buddies with lived experience of myeloma and;
• The Friends and Family Support Group – a virtual (online) Support Group brings family and friends of myeloma patients together for the opportunity to share issues they face and to build social connections.

Delegates were particularly engaged by the Peer Buddy programme (which also supports patients), from how it is structured to how we safeguard our Peer Buddies – all of whom are patients or carers themselves and volunteer in the role.

The exceptional work of Denise and the team provided excellent, thought-provoking conversations and learning for other patient organisations, especially in considering the support available to carers within this kind of support programme.

“I’m so thankful for the support of caregivers, and I am really inspired by all the work you do.” 

MPE Delegate

In addition, Prabneet worked with the team at MPE to record this video addressing carer needs and how we can all work to better support them.

Demonstrating commitment to service improvement

The Myeloma UK Lived Experience and Clinical Practice team also presented a poster at the event, entitled ‘Peer Buddy Service Development’. The poster outlined the work the team completed to enhance the current Peer Service, utilising a structured ‘design sprint’ process to efficiently evaluate and plan developments. The outputs will allow us to begin to expand the programme so that we are able to support more patients and carers.

This rapid, structured way of identifying, exploring and solving problems and testing new ideas helped the team to focus on forward progress and prioritising the areas in which they can have the biggest impact. Four key areas for development were identified, spanning improvements to recruitment and training of buddies, streamlining of matching and booking processes as well as changes to the way resources are shared.

The poster also demonstrated our commitment to involving people affected by myeloma in everything we do. Peer Buddy volunteers were an essential part of the development process, ensuring that the service evolves with, and meets the needs of both volunteers and service users.

To view the full poster, click here.

At Myeloma UK, we have several support services accessible to both patients and carers – find out about the range of services available to your patients and their family and friends here

Challenges to treatment access

“There is no innovation without access.” 

Lise-lott Eriksson, Blodcancerforum, Sweden

One of the key takeaways from this event was that without access, the development of new treatments for myeloma is futile.

Making sure that policy and decision-makers hear the patient voice is essential in successfully obtaining treatment access. We heard from Blodcancerforum, who carried out a scoping exercise to understand the perspectives of health ministers, with a view to enabling greater access.

The findings showed that ministers had an extremely poor understanding of the clinical trial space, and often did not understand the challenges facing blood cancer patients. These significant barriers highlight challenges when campaigning for access to new treatments. But there is an opportunity here for improved advocacy, through greater patient representation during round-table discussions with decision-makers, politicians and health ministers.

We also heard from HEMA-ONKO in Macedonia, who have persevered in their efforts to improve treatment access despite several challenges due to a prolonged period of political change. The consistent advocacy efforts eventually won invitations to Parliament, key healthcare events and to participate in EU Health Technology Assessment (HTA) processes. HEMA-ONKA’s excellent work has paved the way for patients in Macedonia to access the latest myeloma treatments.

CAR-T and the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in myeloma treatment and care

Whilst barriers remain to CAR-T cell treatments on the NHS across the UK, there continues to be international interest in these treatments which was reflected in the buzz around the topic at the MPE masterclass this year.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is increasing and Adam Radziszewski, Lead Applied Scientist at Infermedica, spoke about the benefits of AI in ensuring personalised treatment options for all blood cancer patients – including CAR-T cell treatments.

The new CERTAINTY project combines CAR-T and AI, and researchers are replicating the CAR-T process using software to create a ‘Virtual Twin’ (VT), which acts as a digital mirror. The VT is designed to mimic real cells, which will help guide clinicians in their treatment decisions.  

Myeloma UK is currently working on making CAR-T available on the NHS, which you can read more about here.

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This year’s MPE Masterclass proved to be another incredible event with opportunities to share knowledge, learn and be inspired by the myeloma patients and carers, patient organisations and industry experts present. We would like to extend our gratitude to MPE for inviting us to be part of this collaborative masterclass.

Together, we make it possible to live longer and better lives with myeloma.