Barry Paul, MD, on Improving CAR T-Cell Therapy Efficacy in Multiple Myeloma

This content originally appeared on our sister site, OncLive.

OncLive spoke with Barry Paul, MD, assistant professor, Division of Plasma Cell Disorders, Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders, Atrium Health, to learn more about the emerging benefits of integrating CAR T-cell therapy into treatment paradigms for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

CAR-T cell therapy is an attractive option for both patients and physicians partly because it is typically administered as a single infusion and continues to expand and proliferate in the absence of continued administration, making reinfusion largely unnecessary. This contrasts with the traditional treatment of patients with multiple myeloma, which requires continuous rounds of chemotherapy to be administered until disease progression or tolerance is reached.

Researchers are still trying to optimize the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy in clinical practice and are developing new methods to improve this. Identifying adjunctive therapies that allow CAR T-cell therapies to persist for longer could lead to a more robust patient response, Paul notes. Similarly, efforts to improve the sequencing of T-cell mediated therapies, including CAR T-cell therapy, bispecific antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates, could allow practitioners to identify the most effective treatment option for different patient populations. Both areas necessitate more research, Paul concluded.