Deevyashali Parekh, MBBS, on Evaluating CAR-T in Patients With Multiple Myeloma and Renal Failure

“I think we're entering an age where cellular therapy is probably the most effective therapy for a lot of hematologic malignancies, especially multiple myeloma, and expanding the indications and the treatment population that we can use it for I think is super treatment-relevant.”

There are currently 2 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies approved by the FDA for use in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM): Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and 2seventybio’s idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel; marketed as Abecma) and Janssen and Legend Biotech’s ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel; marketed as Carvykti). When these therapies were in clinical trials, the studies excluded patients with certain conditions from participation that may actually now be eligible for treatment with the commercial products. Of note in this regard are patients with renal failure, who were not able to participate in the studies, but some of whom have now been treated in the real-world setting. Because of the lack of clinical trial data on outcomes for patients with renal failure, gathering real-world data on such patients who receive CAR-T in the real-world is of critical importance to inform treatment decisions for future patients.

Notably, Deevyashali Parekh, MBBS, an internal medicine resident at SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital, presented a real-world study intended to help address this gap in knowledge at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, held December 6 to 9, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. The retrospective, multicenter real-world study utilized data from the TrinetX database network to compare outcomes for patients with and without renal failure who received CAR-T for MM.

At the conference, CGTLive® interviewed Parekh learn more about the findings and get his insight on their implications for the field. He emphasized that clinical and safety outcomes were similar for both groups, suggesting that renal failure should not be reason to deem patients ineligible for CAR-T for MM, but noted that further investigation would be desirable.

For more coverage of ASH 2025, click here.

REFERENCE
1. Parekh D. Real-world outcomes with CAR-T therapy in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and severe renal failure: A propensity matched multi-center retrospective Study using trinetx database. Presented at: ASH 2025 Annual Meeting. December 6-9, 2025; Orlando, FL. Abstract #4593