Pieter Sonneveld

Pieter Sonneveld is one of Europe's most eminent multiple myeloma investigators, leading the hematology program at Erasmus MC Cancer Institute in Rotterdam and serving as a principal investigator in the European Myeloma Network (EMN). His laboratory and clinical research has focused on improving outcomes for high-risk myeloma patients—particularly those with cytogenetic abnormalities like del(17p), t(4;14), and t(14;16)—through optimized frontline strategies, maintenance therapy, and the rational incorporation of monoclonal antibodies. Sonneveld led or co-led several landmark European randomized trials that shaped myeloma treatment: the HOVON-65/GMMG-HD4 trial demonstrated that bortezomib-based induction followed by bortezomib maintenance significantly improved progression-free and overall survival, particularly in high-risk patients. Subsequent EMN and HOVON trials integrated daratumumab into induction-transplant-maintenance frameworks (CASSIOPEIA, EMN02/HO95), with his group providing critical data supporting daratumumab as a standard component of quadruplet induction. He has been instrumental in establishing MRD negativity as a clinically meaningful endpoint in prospective myeloma trials. Beyond his trial leadership, Sonneveld has made substantial contributions to understanding myeloma drug resistance—including proteasome inhibitor resistance mechanisms and the clonal dynamics of relapse under selective pressure. He is a past president of the European Hematology Association (EHA) and a long-standing member of the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG), where he co-chairs working groups on high-risk disease and MRD assessment. His group in Rotterdam maintains an active translational research program linking clinical outcomes to genomic and immunological profiling.