IMS 2023 | How might inequalities in access to CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma be addressed?
Michel Delforge, MD, PhD, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, briefly discusses the challenge of inequality in access to CAR-T therapy for patients with multiple myeloma, and further highlights the steps that need to be taken in order to improve the availability of these agents. This interview took place at the 20th International Myeloma Society (IMS) Annual Meeting, held in Athens, Greece.
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Transcript (edited for clarity)
Currently, we are in a difficult situation. We have these excellent results with one single infusion of BCMA-targeting CAR-T products, whether its ide-cel or cilta-cel, in relapsed/refractory patients or in early relapse. That’s excellent, that these data showed the efficacy and in the Phase III trials also the superiority. But the truth is that when patients come to see us and they ask can I be treated with CAR-T cells, the answer is mostly unfortunately we cannot do it, and there are several reasons for that...
Currently, we are in a difficult situation. We have these excellent results with one single infusion of BCMA-targeting CAR-T products, whether its ide-cel or cilta-cel, in relapsed/refractory patients or in early relapse. That’s excellent, that these data showed the efficacy and in the Phase III trials also the superiority. But the truth is that when patients come to see us and they ask can I be treated with CAR-T cells, the answer is mostly unfortunately we cannot do it, and there are several reasons for that. The most important reason currently is availability of the CAR-T products. So, this is very complex, and we are not in the situation to blame anybody for this but that’s the reality. And that’s not an easy reality, in particular for patients who are in an unmet need for a CAR-T product, or for who we believe that it is the best option that we can give. We truly hope that in the near future, this problem can be solved by, let’s say, higher production capacity, and also of course, which is the second step, the registration, availability, and reimbursement, in the specific countries and centers.
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