Dr. Shah on the Survival Analysis of Older Patients With B-Cell ALL in the ZUMA-3 Trial

Bijal D. Shah, MD, MS, an associate member in the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the survival analysis of subgroups of patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treated in the phase 3 ZUMA-3 trial (NCT02614066).

Investigators stratified efficacy outcomes for those treated with brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus), an autologous CAR T-cell therapy, by age among adult patients in the population.

At 2-year follow-up investigators observed complimentary survival rates in patients between the ages of 18 to 25 years, as well as those aged 65 years or older, Shah says. There was a 100% complete remission (CR)/CR with incomplete count recovery rate among older patients, a result that was unexpected, Shah explains. Historically, survival rates for patients with ALL decrease as age increases, Shah adds.

Overall, increasing age in this study did not lead to worse overall survival outcomes, making the CAR T-cell therapy one of note in this population, Shah concludes.