Dr. Munshi on the Role of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Nikhil C. Munshi, MD, director of Basic and Correlative Science, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, Kraft Family Chair, senior physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the role of CAR T-cell therapy in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma have limited treatment options that often do not lead to significant responses, says Munshi.

CAR T-cell therapy has elicited high response rates in this setting for patients who are heavily pretreated, explains Munshi.

Data from the phase 2 KarMMA trial revealed that the CAR T-cell therapy idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel; bb2121) induced a 73.4% overall response rate in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Additionally, topline results from the trial showed a complete response rate of 31.3%.

Although other potential targets are being evaluated in the space, BCMA is a validated target worthy of continued investigation, says Munshi. As such, CAR T-cell therapy is poised to have significant impact on the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma.

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