First Approved CAR T-Cell Therapy Shows Continued Benefits Five Years Later

New data on Kymriah^® (tisagenlecleucel), the first-ever approved CAR T-cell therapy, were presented last weekend at the 2022 European Hematology Association (EHA) Hybrid Congress. The data show that the treatment leads to durable remission and long-term survival in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).

Patients in the study were part of the ELIANA clinical trial, which found that 55% of patients with relapsed or refractory B-ALL who were treated with CAR-T cell therapy were still alive after more than five years, and 44% of those who achieved a remission within three months of infusion were still in remission at the five-year mark.

These findings build on historic work done at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where the first pediatric patient was treated with CAR T-cell therapy, in collaboration with colleagues at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center.

“The field has been waiting for the 5-year data, a key landmark in assessing long-term benefit and the potential for cure for some patients. These results mark a moment of profound hope for children, young adults and their families with relapsed or refractory B-cell ALL, as relapse after five years is rare,” said Stephan A. Grupp, MD, PhD, Section Chief of the Cellular Therapy and Transplant Section, and Inaugural Director of the Susan S. and Stephen P. Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). “Since the approval of Kymriah in 2017, we have been able to offer a truly game-changing option to patients who previously faced a five-year survival rate of less than 10 percent.”

Read more about these data in this press release from Novartis.