Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer, but most people haven’t heard of it until they or someone they know is diagnosed with the disease. March is Myeloma Action Month—a time to focus attention on the fight against multiple myeloma.

Mayo Clinic is making significant advances with an individualized medicine approach. In recent years, Mayo researchers and others have uncovered a wealth of information about the genetic mutations that help multiple myeloma cells survive and multiply. Now, Mayo Clinic has translated those discoveries into clinical testing to personalize care.

“Multiple myeloma has some of the most advanced genomic information available among all cancers. We have condensed that large genomic database into a test panel to detect genetic mutations that have relevance to prognosis and to optimal drug therapies for individual patients,” says Keith Stewart, MB, ChB, a multiple myeloma specialist and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine (CIM).

The test panel, available through Mayo Medical Laboratories, uses next-generation sequencing to pinpoint genetic mutations within an individual’s tumor. The mutations make an individual likelier to respond to—or likelier to resist—the effects of a particular drug.