Dr. Doris Hansen, a myeloma specialist from Moffitt Cancer Center, reviews the two FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies currently available and how they’re being used earlier in care, and she highlights promising myeloma CAR-T therapies in development.
Dr. Doris Hansen is an Assistant Member in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Learn more about Dr. Hansen.
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Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
What are other currently approved therapies, and which patients are they most appropriate for?
Dr. Doris Hansen:
That’s a great question. So, there are currently two FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies. There is idecabtagene vicleucel, or a Abecma, which was first FDA approved in 2021. And then, as I mentioned, we have ciltacabtagene autoleucel, or Carvykti, which was originally FDA-approved in 2022.
But as of last year, 2024, both of these treatments have moved earlier into the treatment course. So, basically, our patients can get CAR T as soon as second line or third line of therapy, depending on their treatment history, on their exposure, how well the treatment, their prior treatment, is working. But these are the two CAR T-cell products that are available. But also, there are many others in development and in clinical trials.
So, we have anitocabtagene autoleucel. So, that one, hopefully, will come into – or get FDA-approved in the next year, in 2026. And it looks very promising from an efficacy and safety perspective. And then, we also have another CAR T known as arlo-cell, or arlocabtagene autoleucel, and that one essentially targets a different area on the myeloma cells than all the other CAR Ts I’ve been talking about. So, it’s exciting as well.
And certainly, we have many more ongoing clinical trials, where we might have CAR Ts that target two areas on the myeloma cell instead of one. And then, we have what are called allogeneic CARs, which are CARs that are manufacturing using a healthy person’s T-cells. And those are also in development, and in clinical trials. So, a lot is happening in the myeloma space, particularly the CAR T immunotherapy, and even bispecifics and trispecifics. So, a lot to look forward to as we forge a path towards a cure for our patients.