EBMT 2022 | An update on omidubicel

Guillermo Sanz, MD, PhD, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain, talks on the use of omidubicel, detailing the preparation of this product and highlighting data from clinical trials evaluating omidubicel. Prof. Sanz first explains how CD133+ cells are expanded ex vivo and administered to patients. Early phase clinical trials with omidubicel have demonstrated short hematopoietic engraftment and a Phase III study (NCT02730299) comparing omidubicel to cord blood infusions showed that omidubicel resulted in a significant reduction in time to engraftment in the omidubicel arm. Prof Sanz also explains that omidubicel leads to a reduction in bacterial, viral and fungal infections up to a year after transplant. In addition, this study also reported that patients spent significantly less time at the hospital, thereby reducing the use of hospital resources. Overall, this data suggests that ex vivo expansion of cells is beneficial to patients and may become the new standard of care. This interview took place at the 48th Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) 2022, which was held virtually.