Dr. Shah on the Current State of CAR T-Cell Therapy in Myeloma

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

Right now, most of the literature regarding CAR T-cell therapy is preliminary, Shah says, and the information available has only been presented at large oncology conferences. Data presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting showed that the CAR T-cell therapy bb2121 had a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 11.8 months and a median duration of response of 10.8 months for patients with relapsed/refractory heavily pretreated myeloma. Although, the median PFS for patients who achieved minimal residual disease negativity was over 17 months.

Shah says that these data demonstrate areas that can be improved. For example, the timing of CAR T-cell therapy could be earlier, so patients do not need to undergo 7 lines of therapy first. It could also be combined with different agents. Preclinical data have shown that CAR T cells in combination with immunomodulatory agents may make the T cells last longer.