Treatment found to reduce progression of rare blood cancer by 74%

A treatment that involves genetically modifying the body’s own immune cells has been found to cut the risk of disease progression by 74 percent in people with a rare type of blood cancer, results showed Monday.

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel -- also known by its trade name Carvykti -- was tested in a clinical trial involving 419 patients with multiple myeloma, whose disease was not responsive to the current frontline drug lenalidomide, a chemotherapy medicine.

“Lenalidomide has become a foundation of care for people with myeloma, but as its use has expanded, so has the number of patients whose disease will no longer respond to the treatment,” said oncologist Oreofe Odejide at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting where results were presented.

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel “delivers remarkably effective outcomes compared to patients’ current options” and “can be used safely earlier in the treatment phase,” added Odejide, an expert who was not part of the research.

Multiple myeloma affects a type of white blood cells called plasma cells, and can cause cascading harms to the bones, kidneys, and immune health.