Dr. Shah on the Curative Potential of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Myeloma

Nina Shah, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the curative potential of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in multiple myeloma.

CAR T-cell therapy has the potential to be effective in select patients with myeloma, but not all, says Shah. Myeloma is a notoriously difficult disease to eradicate completely, she adds, which lowers the likelihood of cure with CAR T-cell therapy. That is not to say that there will not be patients who will have long-term responses with the therapy, says Shah. The onus is on investigators to determine how much benefit is worth undergoing the therapy and its cost.

Everything that physicians now know about myeloma and treatment strategies are due to clinical trials, explains Shah. Clinical trials are a great way to achieve further advancement in the field. It is important to know that the standard of care is always given, regardless of which arm a patient is enrolled in, she adds.