Approved and emerging CAR-Ts in multiple myeloma

Hermann Einsele, MD, FRCP, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, comments on the efficacy and safety of idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) and ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), two chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies for multiple myeloma. Ide-cel has been approved by the FDA and EMA for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three lines of prior therapy and has shown impressive results in terms of overall response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS), with a low incidence of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity. Cilta-cel is another promising CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma. Although it hasn’t been approved yet, studies are reporting very high response rates (RR) and remarkable PFS data, with limited toxicities. Clinical trials are also investigating these CAR-T therapies in earlier lines of therapy, which could ultimately allow achieving long-term control of the disease. This interview took place at the EBMT-EHA 4th European CAR T-cell Meeting which was held virtually in 2022.