Dr. Neelapu on FDA-Approved CAR T-Cell Products Spanning Lymphoma Subtypes

Sattva Neelapu, MD, a professor of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses CAR T-cell products that have been approved by the FDA for different subtypes of lymphoma.

CAR T-cell therapy was initially approved by the FDA for patients who had relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphomas, according to Neelapu. However, these therapies have since been investigated in early lines of therapy, as is being done in the phase 2 ZUMA-12 study (NCT03761056), as well as in other lymphoma subtypes, including mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

At least 3 FDA-approved products have emerged for patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma in the third-line setting, Neelapu says. Additionally, brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus; formerly KTE-X19) was approved by the FDA in July 2020 for use in adult patients with relapsed/refractory MCL.

Importantly, other ongoing clinical trials are examining other CAR T-cell therapies in patients with MCL or indolent NHL. Due to this, additional approvals are expected in the near future for these lymphoma subtypes, Neelapu concludes.