Working together to innovate, share and learn – Myeloma UK at IMS 2025

Hosted this year in Toronto, the 22nd International Myeloma Society (IMS) Meeting and Exposition, in combination with the 9th Nursing and Allied Health Symposium, brought together myeloma clinicians from around the world. Taking place from 17–20 September 2025 Myeloma UK was in attendance, to find out the latest new developments in myeloma care and contribute to the learning and networking that are core to this event.

The Nursing and Allied Health Symposium, now an integral part of the IMS conference, is a great opportunity for health professionals to discuss the latest initiatives in myeloma, learn from expert colleagues and explore future collaborations. Myeloma UK continues to have a key role in planning and delivering this symposium, as well as showcasing our latest work to advance myeloma care. Keynote speakers, oral and poster abstract presentations featured excellent representation from UK nurses and allied health professionals.

Myeloma UK partnering with clinicians to innovate myeloma care

Attending IMS this year, Myeloma UK’s Clinical Programme Manager, Monica Morris actively contributed to the event.

Monica presented an informative poster which showcased a treatment scheduling tool, adapted for use in the UK.

Entitled ‘The power of partnership: supporting patient adherence to treatment through a unique collaboration between healthcare professional and patient organisations’, the poster described how collaboration, both internationally, nationally and between patient organisations and clinicians, has facilitated the wider use of the MyeTxScheduler tool. The tool supports patients to manage complex schedules and promotes safe and optimal treatment delivery.

You can read the abstract or view the full poster here.

This innovative tool is available now and it’s free to access. To try it out, register online today and keep an eye out for more news about MyeTxScheduler right here on the HCP Hub.

Monica also co-chaired an excellent session during the Nursing and Allied Health Symposium, dedicated to strengthening clinical knowledge on enhanced supportive care modalities.

Promoting access to treatments

The first session of the symposium was devoted to the delivery of cellular therapies, finding practical solutions to the challenges faced in bringing these new treatments to the clinic.

Kicking off the meeting, Chantelle Hughes, a Senior Research Nurse from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, shared consensus guidance on the delivery of bispecific antibodies. This work developed as part of the EMMBRace project, which is supporting the development of bispecific antibody programmes in the UK.

Utilising their knowledge and expertise in this area, Chantelle and Senior Pharmacist Dunsi Bolarinwa have also worked with Myeloma UK to co-author our new free Myeloma Nurse Guide – Bispecific antibodies.

Alongside Chantelle’s work, this session also included presentations on how centres in the USA are using different models of care to deliver cellular therapies, making these new treatments more accessible and less burdensome for patients and families. Oral abstracts covered subcutaneous administration of immunoglobulin, a nurse-led outpatient model for delivery of CAR-T, and from the UK, patient perspectives of outpatient step-up dosing of bispecific antibody treatment.

Enhancing supportive care

The second session of the symposium centred on the themes of enhancing supportive care and promoting survivorship.

Professor Margaret McNeely from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta emphasised the important role exercise plays in myeloma care, and oral abstracts included a presentation of patient perceptions of frailty and a presentation on the factors affecting clinical trial enrolment.

The symposium was rounded off by an expert panel discussion, providing case-based perspectives from a specialist nurse, pharmacist and physiotherapist, indicating how these specialist roles work in synergy to support the patient throughout their myeloma pathway. The panel talked through specific management points related to co-existing AL amyloidosis and heavily pre-treated patients.

To explore more of the topics discussed at this Nursing and Allied Health Symposium, view the full programme here.

The conversation continues here

Posters in the spotlight

As well as promoting inspiring and thought-provoking oral presentations, the IMS Nursing and Allied Health Symposium generated a wealth of poster presentations on the latest research and innovative approaches to optimise myeloma care.

At the meeting, Monica spent time viewing the Nursing and Allied Health poster presentations and chatted with the authors. These three were of particular interest and resonated as highly relevant pieces of work:

Diagnostic journeys in myeloma: a qualitative exploration of barriers and facilitators (NSP-19)

Author: Matthew LeBlanc, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, USA

This interesting poster aimed to better understand the perspective of the patient during the pre-diagnostic period. Importantly, it included representation from different ethnicities in the study cohort of 35 patients, and through interviews identified three themes:

• Recognising symptoms as being concerning.
• Misattribution of symptoms to normal ageing which led to delays.
• A profound lack of awareness of myeloma.

This work will help to shape public-facing interventions to promote earlier diagnosis.

Pharmacist impact on patients initiating myeloma therapy in a specialised community oncology pharmacy (NSP-18)

Quyen Nguyen, Extend Pharmacy, Ottawa, Canada

As healthcare systems grapple with increased numbers of myeloma patients on treatment, this poster nicely summarised a model of care in which patients’ treatment is initiated in the community pharmacy setting.

Despite different health systems there were some important conclusions drawn from this work that are applicable to the UK. Namely that pharmacists are well placed to provide early assessment of patients and initiate treatment, and that time spent in the initial consultation reduces the time spent on dealing with drug therapy problems in follow up cycles.

Supportive care needs and interventions among hospitalised patients with myeloma bone disease: a single centre experience (NSP-06)

Zhao Lee, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore

In a meeting where the latest innovations in treatments dominate discussions, it was great to see a poster that focused on management of myeloma bone disease, something which can severely impact morbidity in myeloma.

This innovative work described the creation of the Myeloma Supportive and Integrated Care (MySTIC) team, which is led by specialist nurses and includes haematologists, palliative care specialists, interventional radiologists, orthopaedic surgeons and allied health professionals. Analysis showed that optimal outcomes rely on factors such as early integration of bone-targeted therapies, surgical consultation and correction of vitamin D deficiency, and that these outcomes are best achieved through well-coordinated multidisciplinary care – something the MySTIC team facilitates.

You can find all the abstracts from IMS 2025 here.

IMS comes to the UK in September 2026!

Next year, Glasgow hosts IMS 2026! Get ready to be involved with this highlight in the international calendar from 23–26 September.

IMS is an incredible opportunity for education and networking, as well as hearing about the latest research and developments in myeloma care. It is also a chance to showcase your work on the international stage – so start planning your abstract now!

With the conference coming here to the UK, Monica is especially keen to support colleagues in developing their abstracts for the Nursing and Allied Health Symposium – especially if you are submitting for the first time. Not sure where to start, need some top tips on organising your abstract or just a chat to explore your idea? Drop Monica an email – it’s not too early to get started!

Keep an eye out here on the Myeloma UK HCP Hub for more details on IMS 2026 and other meetings in the myeloma calendar.