Dr. Shah on Key Findings From the KarMMa Trial in Multiple Myeloma

Nina Shah, MD, a hematologist and oncologist, and an associate professor of medicine, Department of Medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses key findings from the phase 2 KarMMA trial (NCT03361748) in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

The KarMMa study was a pivotal open-label, single-arm, multicenter trial that evaluated the efficacy of the BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel; Abecma) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, Shah says. Patients who participated in the trial had received at least 3 prior lines of therapy and had exposure to a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and a CD38-directed monoclonal antibody. Moreover, patients had to have progressive disease at the time of enrollment to the trial, Shah says.

The key findings of the study demonstrated that the overall response rate was 73% across all patients treated with ide-cel and 81% in the patients who received the ide-cel dose of 450 x 106 CAR+ T cells, Shah continues. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 8.6 months in the overall population and 12.2 months in those who received the 450 x 106 CAR+ T cell dose, Shah says.

Additionally, the therapy was reported to be safe, Shah says. Any-grade cytokine release syndrome was observed in 84% of patients and consisted mostly of grade 1 or 2 events, Shah concludes.