AbbVie Crashes the Myeloma Party Three Years Late. Was It Worth the Wait?
AbbVie just dropped Phase 3 data for its myeloma bispecific, etentamig, and the numbers are hard to ignore: 74% response rate and a 60% cut in disease progression. The catch? Three competitors already have approved drugs on the shelf.
The Late Arrival With a Big Entrance
Imagine showing up to a house party at midnight when everyone's already three drinks deep. That's basically AbbVie right now in the multiple myeloma bispecific market. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Regeneron have all had their BCMA-targeting bispecific antibodies approved and selling for a while. And here comes AbbVie, kicking the door open with Phase 3 data that might actually be the best in the room.
On September 3, AbbVie reported positive results from its CERVINO trial for etentamig, a bispecific T-cell engager (think of it as a molecular matchmaker that grabs a cancer cell with one hand and an immune cell with the other, forcing them together). The drug hit both of its primary goals, and the numbers were strong enough to matter.
The question isn't whether etentamig works. It clearly does. The question is whether "late but good" is enough to carve out real market share in one of oncology's most crowded neighborhoods.
The Numbers That Matter
The CERVINO trial enrolled 393 patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, meaning their cancer had come back or stopped responding to treatment. These weren't early-stage patients; they'd already been through at least two rounds of therapy, including the three major drug classes that doctors typically throw at myeloma first.
Etentamig delivered an overall response rate of 74%, compared to just 45.7% for patients who got standard treatments instead. In plain English: nearly three out of four patients on etentamig saw their cancer shrink meaningfully. On the standard therapy side, fewer than half could say the same.
But the response rate was only half the story. The drug also cut the risk of disease progression or death by about 60%, reflected in a hazard ratio of 0.40. For context, anything below 0.50 in a cancer trial is considered a strong signal. AbbVie cleared that bar comfortably.
There's even an early survival hint: 12-month overall survival was 87.9% in the etentamig group versus 72% for standard care. The formal survival analysis hasn't reached its statistical threshold yet, but the trend line looks encouraging.
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A Crowded Room Full of BCMA Bispecifics
To understand why this matters commercially, you need to know the landscape. BCMA (a protein found on myeloma cells) has become the hottest target in blood cancer. Multiple companies have built bispecific antibodies that latch onto BCMA on the tumor side and CD3 on the T-cell side, creating a bridge that tells the immune system to attack.
J&J got there first with Tecvayli (teclistamab) and holds the first-mover advantage. Pfizer followed with Elrexfio (elranatamab). Regeneron added a third approved option, Lynozyfic (linvoseltamab). J&J even has a second bispecific called Talvey, which targets a different protein (GPRC5D) instead of BCMA, giving it two horses in this race.
So AbbVie is entering a market with at least three approved BCMA bispecifics already on pharmacy shelves. That's a tough sell, even with great data.
What Could Give Etentamig an Edge
Convenience might be AbbVie's secret weapon. Etentamig is dosed as a once-monthly IV infusion after a single step-up dose. That's a relatively clean regimen compared to some competitors that require more frequent visits or complex ramp-up schedules. For patients who are already exhausted from years of treatment, fewer trips to the infusion center is a real differentiator.
The safety profile has some caveats, though. Cytokine release syndrome (CRS), the inflammatory reaction that happens when you supercharge the immune system, was mostly low-grade. Treatment discontinuations were relatively low. But grade 3 or 4 infections hit 27.7% of patients, a reminder that redirecting T cells comes with real risks. Infections are the shared Achilles' heel of this entire drug class, and etentamig doesn't seem to escape that problem.
Still, the combination of a 74% response rate, a 60% reduction in progression risk, and monthly dosing gives AbbVie a compelling pitch. Whether oncologists actually switch from drugs they already know and trust is a different conversation entirely.
Wall Street Shrugged (Sort Of)
If you expected fireworks from investors, you'd be disappointed. Citi analyst Geoffrey Meacham told Reuters the data "add credibility to oncology but do not change the investment debate." Translation: nice win, but AbbVie is a diversified pharma giant. One myeloma drug, however good, doesn't move the needle the way it would for a smaller biotech.
That's the paradox of being big. When a clinical-stage company nails a Phase 3, the stock can double overnight. When AbbVie does it, analysts nod politely and go back to modeling Humira's patent cliff.
The commercial opportunity is still real, though. Multiple myeloma remains the second most common blood cancer, and late-line patients (those who've failed several therapies) represent a population with enormous unmet need. Even in 2026, with all these bispecifics available, oncologists are still figuring out the optimal sequencing: which drug to use first, which to save for later, and how to layer them with CAR-T cell therapy.
The Bigger Picture: AbbVie's Oncology Ambitions
Etentamig isn't a one-and-done play. AbbVie has a regulatory submission planned for 2027, targeting third-line myeloma as the initial label. Behind etentamig, the company is running combination studies pairing the drug with pomalidomide and dexamethasone, aiming to push into earlier lines of treatment where patient volumes (and revenue potential) are much larger.
There's also a next-generation hedge sitting in the pipeline: ABBV-2001, a trispecific antibody that targets CD38, BCMA, and CD3 simultaneously. It's still in Phase 1, so it's years away from maturity. But it signals that AbbVie is thinking beyond the current bispecific playbook.
The myeloma bispecific market is evolving fast. The conversation is shifting from "do these drugs work?" to "how do we use them best?" Sequencing with CAR-T therapy, managing long-term infection risk, and picking the right drug for the right patient at the right time are now the central questions.
AbbVie arrived late to the party. But they brought strong data, a convenient dosing schedule, and a clear regulatory roadmap. In a market this competitive, that might be enough to earn a seat at the table. Whether it's enough to take the head of the table from J&J is the billion-dollar question that only a launch in 2027 or 2028 will answer.
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