While side effects can be challenging, the fact remains that complete and partial remissions are impressive with CAR T-cell therapy. All eligible patients have exhausted their cancer treatment options, and CAR T-cell therapy may be their last hope to extend survival.
Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) from Gilead is an anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy directed against aggressive B-cell cancers and under study for various relapsed and refractory hematologic malignancies, including:
- Aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (diffuse large b-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal b-cell lymphoma, and transformed follicular lymphoma) (ZUMA-1 trial) – pivotal clincial trial submitted to the FDA for the October 2017 approval of Yescarta.
- Relapsed/Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma (ZUMA-2 trial)
- Adult and Pediatric Relapsed/Refractory Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ZUMA-3 and ZUMA-4 trials)
- Indolent B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (ZUMA-5)
- Use With Atezolizumab (Tecentriq), an anti-PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor, in patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (ZUMA-6) – inhibiting PD-L1 with atezolizumab may enhance and prolong the activity and proliferation of axicabtagene ciloleucel.
- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (ZUMA-8 trial)
