Bristol Myers Squibb Evolves and Expands Standing in the Gaap to Advance More Equitable Care in Multiple Myeloma as Program Marks Ten Years
New survey, guided by patient advocacy input, seeks to elevate lived experience and community voice to better understand challenges in multiple myeloma care
Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), a global leader in oncology, today announced the evolution of Standing in the Gaap, a long-running program designed to help address persistent gaps in care for people living with multiple myeloma (MM) in medically underserved communities. Building on a decade of sustained commitment, BMS is reinforcing its focus on equitable access to multiple myeloma education, resources, and community-driven solutions by expanding the program to reach more patients and care partners.
As a central element of the Standing in the Gaap evolution, BMS is launching one of the largest multiple myeloma surveys ever conducted in the United States. The survey is designed to help illuminate the factors behind gaps in care, capturing perspectives that are often described anecdotally but not consistently measured across the multiple myeloma care continuum. The survey will engage more than 1,000 people living with multiple myeloma, along with their caregivers and healthcare providers, including communities that experience persistent barriers to care. The survey was developed with input from leading patient advocacy organizations, including the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), HealthTree Foundation (HTF), Blood Cancer United (BCU), and Black Health Matters (BHM), to help ensure the approach reflects real-world experience and community priorities. By centering voices from across the multiple myeloma community, this listening-led approach aims to surface daily real-world challenges, reflect how care is experienced today, and highlight where additional support is needed most.
"Even the most advanced treatments can fall short if patients aren't represented in research, can't access care or struggle to navigate the healthcare system," said Andrew Whitehead, Vice President and Head of Population Health at Bristol Myers Squibb. "For people living with multiple myeloma, where you live, your access to information and who you trust can shape your experience as much as treatment itself. Standing in the Gaap was created to confront those realities and has helped drive meaningful progress over the past decade. The evolution of this program reflects our commitment to listen more closely and to include more voices, translating insight into strategic activations and community engagement that help strengthen how we support people experiencing gaps in multiple myeloma care and improve how we show up not only for patients, but for their care partners and the clinicians who serve them."
Bristol Myers Squibb created Standing in the Gaap in 2016 to help address challenges faced by African Americans with multiple myeloma. Over the past decade, the program has focused on strengthening and broadening understanding of multiple myeloma care pathways and supporting community engagement. Since its inception, the program has reached more than 5,000 attendees through over 50 educational programs and has built a highly engaged digital community of nearly 60,000 people. Today, BMS is evolving Standing in the Gaap to advance more equitable care by responding to the needs of a broader range of populations across the multiple myeloma ecosystem, reinforcing culturally responsive, community-informed approaches to care.
"Too often, we talk about multiple myeloma without fully hearing from patients and care partners themselves," said Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer of the International Myeloma Foundation. "Efforts like this, developed alongside advocacy organizations and informed directly by people impacted, create an opportunity to translate lived experience into meaningful action. By listening at scale, we can better identify where support is falling short and where focused engagement can make a real difference for communities affected by multiple myeloma."
Bristol Myers Squibb will share learnings from the Standing in the Gaap survey with key stakeholders and use them to inform future programming, partnerships and engagement efforts in multiple myeloma.
About Bristol Myers Squibb: Transforming Patients' Lives Through Science
At Bristol Myers Squibb, our mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. We are pursuing bold science to define what's possible for the future of medicine and the patients we serve. For more information, visit us at BMS.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
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