With more than 100 compounds in development for multiple myeloma, it is of critical importance to identify and prioritize those compounds that show the most potential in treating the disease. This will not only ensure that only the most promising drug leads are followed, but will reduce the time spent on drugs that are destined to fail. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is through strong pre-clinical compound validation efforts in biological model of the disease, such as myeloma cells lines. However, few laboratories in the United States have the validation capabilities and the lack of standardized models has often stymied high-quality validation efforts.

In response to this challenge, the MMRC Validation Core has created and will maintain a panel of 12 extensively characterized myeloma cell lines that will form the basis for the validation of novel compounds and combinations treatments. Several existing drugs with known efficacy (and inefficacy) have now been screened against the cell line panel to form a basis of comparison for future compound validation studies. This cell line panel now serves as an optimal tool to screen potential new drug candidates and help prioritize them for further study by the MMRC, as well as an invaluable resource for industry partners pursuing drug screening projects.