More than 2 years after receiving CART-BCMA he remains cancer free, and is now conducting CAR T-cell-related research in his lab at UT Southwestern in an effort to broaden the effectiveness of current CAR T-cell therapies. Specifically, he is looking at whether the small percentage of patients in whom CAR T-cell therapy does not work might benefit from telomerase to lengthen telomeres, as most patients who fail CAR T-cell therapy are elderly patients who might have terminally short telomeres, UT Southwestern reported.
The ongoing University of Pennsylvania trial led by Adam D. Cohen, MD, director of myeloma immunotherapy at the Abramson Cancer Center, has an overall response rate of 64%; initial phase 1 efficacy and safety results were reported at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in 2016, and multiple companies are currently pursuing registration trials for CAR T therapies in myeloma, Dr. June said.
Among them are bluebird bio and Celgene, which together are developing an anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy known as bb2121. That product was granted breakthrough therapy designation by the Food and Drug Administration in November 2017, and will thus receive expedited review. It has also been fast-tracked in Europe.
The decision to fast-track bb2121 in the United States was based on preliminary results from the CRB-410 trial. Updated findings from that trial were presented in December 2017 at ASH and showed an overall response rate of 94% in 21 patients, with 17 of 18 patients who received doses above 50 x 106 CAR+ T cells having an overall response, and 10 of the 18 achieving complete remission. The progression-free survival rates were 81% at 6 months, and 71% at 9 months, with responses deepening over time. The complete response rates were 27% and 56% in May and October of 2017, respectively.