The Emerging Data in BCMA-targeted CAR T-cell Therapy for Multiple Myeloma

Pharmacy Times interviewed Craig Freyer, PharmD, BCOP, a clinical pharmacy specialist at Penn Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and Andrew Lin, PharmD, BCOP, an oncology pharmacy specialist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, to discuss their presentation at the recent ATOPP 2021 summit on re-examining the why, who, and where of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

Alana Hippensteele: What does the emerging data demonstrate regarding BCMA-targeted CAR T in multiple myeloma?

Andrew Lin: Sure, so we have one product that's already approved the idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and a similar product that's investigational currently with ciltacabtagene autoleucel, and they are similar constructs, and the results are pretty comparable between the 2.

So, for the KarMMa study with ide-cel, the response rates were pretty high in a relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma population. So, with greater than equal to 3 lines of therapy, we have an overall response rate of 73%, even achieving complete response in a third of these patients with relatively low grade 3 or more of the serious adverse effects. So that's the phase 2 study that got this agent approved.

Then if we look at the CARTITUDE study with the investigational product, that has a reported higher response rate, achieving a very good partial response in up to 88% of these patients, so exceedingly promising there, with, again, similar relatively low rates of toxicity.

So, I think we’re there. There's the approved agent—even though the study said greater than equal to 3 and the approval is for greater than 4 lines of therapy—they're here, we're just trying to work out whether we can actually get any patients enrolled in the spots to get the product made. I think that's been the biggest challenge.