ASH 2021 | The benefits of second-line CAR-T cell therapy
Frederick Locke, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, discusses whether chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies should be moved into earlier lines of treatment. Data from the Phase III ZUMA-7 trial (NCT03391466), which assessed axicabtagene ciloleucel in patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, indicated that patients greatly benefited from CAR-T cell therapy as second-line therapy. Dr Locke additionally highlights the need for early referral to treatment, which is achievable with CAR-T cell therapies due to their quick manufacturing times. This interview took place at the 63rd ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition congress in Atlanta, GA.
Transcript (edited for clarity)
The results of the ZUMA-7 trial, which we presented here really make it clear that we should be moving CAR-T cell therapy up as an earlier line of treatment. Really a critical thing here is to get a patient referred very early to a treatment center that does CAR-T cell therapy. And by that, if you have a patient with large B-cell lymphoma, that’s primary refractory, or is progressed after initial frontline treatment, they need to immediately be referred for consideration of CAR-T cell therapy...
The results of the ZUMA-7 trial, which we presented here really make it clear that we should be moving CAR-T cell therapy up as an earlier line of treatment. Really a critical thing here is to get a patient referred very early to a treatment center that does CAR-T cell therapy. And by that, if you have a patient with large B-cell lymphoma, that’s primary refractory, or is progressed after initial frontline treatment, they need to immediately be referred for consideration of CAR-T cell therapy.
And in fact, they could avoid second line salvage chemotherapy and go directly to CAR-T that’s what we’ve shown on this ZUMA-7 study. And the critical thing that I think is important is that they’re referred quickly and early, because time matters when it comes to treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the manufacturer of CAR-T cells can be done relatively efficiently and quickly three to four weeks, depending on the manufacturer, but you’ve got to get the patient referred in early and quickly, so we can get that therapy to the patient because it’s clearly the best treatment in my mind for these patients.
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