Dr. Lonial on CAR T-Cell Therapy in Myeloma

Sagar Lonial, MD, professor and chair, Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, chief medical officer, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, discusses the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

There is a lot of interest in targeting BCMA, explains Lonial. One of the ways BCMA can be targeted is through the use of CAR T cells. Data on CAR T cells were presented at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, 2018 ASH Annual Meeting, and the 2018 EHA Congress. This data was specifically on the use of bb2121. The median progression-free survival was about 11.8 months for all patients, with some patients achieving long durations of remission.

Currently, CAR T cells are being used in later lines of therapy, but trials are being designed to look at it as a potential second-line therapy, explains Lonial. Future trials may compare it to transplant and as a potential consolidation for high-risk patients. Allogeneic transplant is not very common in myeloma, and the effective use of CAR T cells may replace its incidence entirely, says Lonial.