Caron Jacobson, MD, medical director of the Immune Effector Cell Therapy Program; a physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses the next steps with axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) in relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

At the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program, findings from the phase 2 ZUMA-5 study demonstrated a 95% overall response rate with a complete response rate of 81% in patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. Additionally, clinical benefit was noted with the CAR T-cell therapy in patients with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL).

The data remain immature, and patients are still enrolling to the MZL cohort, says Jacobson. In the follicular lymphoma cohort, a planned 12-month analysis may shed light on the durability of these responses.

ZUMA-5 is designed to be a pivotal study for axi-cel to receive an expanded indication from the FDA in lymphoma, explains Jacobson.

Moreover, if the durability and safety profile of the agent continue to elicit favorable data, axi-cel or other CAR T-cell therapies may be evaluated in earlier lines of treatment for high-risk patients, including those who progress following initial chemoimmunotherapy, concludes Jacobson.