Dr. Hari on CAR T-Cell Therapy in Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Parameswaran Hari, MD, MRCP, the Armand J. Quick/William F. Stapp Professor of Hematology, and the chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, at the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses the use of CAR T-cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

Data from the phase Ib/II CARTITUDE-1 trial (NCT03548207), which examined the efficacy of the anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy JNJ-68284528 (JNJ-4528) in 29 patients with heavily pretreated relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, were presented at the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting.

All patients were triple-exposed, meaning that they received a CD38 monoclonal antibody, an immunomodulatory drug, and a proteasome inhibitor, says Hari, with 86% of patients identified as being triple-refractory. Treatment with the product led to an overall response rate of 100%. Specifically, the ORR was comprised of a 66% stringent complete response (CR) rate, a 3% CR rate, a 17% very good partial response (PR) rate, and a 14% PR rate.

It is unknown how long these responses will last or how much this treatment will eventually cost, but for a disease with extremely poor prognosis, BCMA targeting with CAR T-cells remains a wonderful opportunity for development, says Hari.

In fact, these products are expected to move forward into earlier lines of treatment and change the natural history of the disease, concludes Hari.