Dr. Cowan on Efficacy and Safety of BCMA CAR T-Cells in Multiple Myeloma

Video

In Partnership With:

Andrew J. Cowan, MD, discusses efficacy and safety of BCMA CAR T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Andrew J. Cowan, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at University of Washington School of Medicine, and hematologist/oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, discusses efficacy and safety of BCMA CAR T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

A phase I study has treated a total of 7 patients thus far; these patients have been heavily pretreated with a median of 10 prior regimens. Approximately 75% of patients had a high-risk feature at the time of study entry. One patient died at day 33 post-CAR T-cell therapy due to cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and concurrent fungal infection, says Cowman. After that incident, the protocol was modified and no additional dose-limiting toxicities have been observed since then. The most common grade ≥3 adverse events observed with the treatment were neutropenic fever (70%), CRS (100%), and neurotoxicity (70%).

An 100% overall response rate was observed with the therapy with no relapses. The median follow-up is 20 weeks, but the patient currently with the longest- follow-up has shown no evidence of disease for ≥1 year, concludes Cowan. However, longer follow-up and of more patients are needed to determine if the durability of response is improved in patients treated with BCMA CAR T-cell therapy.

Related Videos
Emmanuel Antonarakis, MD, associate director, Translational Research, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Clark Endowed Professor of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School
Gautam Jha, MD, medical director, M Health Fairview Masonic Cancer Clinic and the Advanced Treatment Center at the M Health Fairview Clinics and Surgery Center—Minneapolis, chair, cancer committee, M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital
Ricardo D. Parrondo, MD, hematologist/oncologist, Mayo Clinic
Ilyas Sahin, MD
Raj Singh, MD
Jaime R. Merchán, MD, professor, co-leader, Translational and Clinical Oncology Research Program, director, Phase 1 Clinical Trials Program, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Saad J. Kenderian, MB, CHB
Tycel Phillips, MD
Minesh Mehta, MD
Shivaani Kummar, MBBS, FACP, Margaret and Lester DeArmond Endowed Chair of Cancer Research, Professor and Division Head, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine; co-director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics, co-deputy director, Knight Cancer Institute