ASCO 2023: New BCMA-Directed CAR T-Cell Therapy Under Study in Resistant Myeloma

By: Joshua D. Madera, MD
Posted: Wednesday, June 28, 2023

For patients with heavily pretreated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, use of a novel platform for a B-cell maturation agent (BCMA) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy called PHE885 (ClinicalTrials identifier NCT04318327) may prove to be an effective alternative treatment strategy, according to a presentation at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 8004). The increased response rates and favorable safety profile observed in these patients warrant additional efforts to identify the optimal dose for the best clinical outcomes, according to Adam Samuel Sperling, MD, PhD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and colleagues.

A total of 46 patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma were recruited for the study. All patients had received at least two previous lines of therapy. Patients were initially administered fludarabine with either cyclophosphamide or bendamustine to prevent lymphodepletion. Subsequently, patients were stratified to receive varying doses of PHE885.

The study authors reported the use of bridging chemotherapy in 28% of patients, which they speculated was likely because of the rushed production time of PHE885. In addition, 96% of patients who received the immunotherapy developed cytokine-release syndrome, with 11% developing grade 3 cytokine-release syndrome. A total of 22% of patients had evidence of immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome, with 7% developing grade 3 immune effector cell–associated neurotoxicity syndrome. Furthermore, the most common treatment-related adverse events reported by patients included anemia (54%), neutropenia (50%), and thrombocytopenia (37%). At the 6- and 12-month intervals, the PHE885 transgene was detected in 93% and 71% of patients, respectively. Moreover, the overall patient response rate was 98%.

Disclosure: Full disclosure information for the study authors is not available.

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

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