Two New CAR T-cell Therapy Trials Focus on Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

A pair of open and enrolling clinical trials are offering strong preliminary results for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma, says Ehsan Malek, MD, Director of Multiple Myeloma Translational Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The first involves an allogenic BMCA CAR T-cell therapy that relies on “off-the-shelf” cells, instead of the patient’s own, allowing for the patient to receive the treatment faster. The cells are modified by CRISPR technology to remove the genes responsible for graft-versus-host disease, “the main side effect of allogenic therapy,” Dr. Malek says. “The results are very promising in terms of efficacy and very reasonable safety.” The treatment also is showing high efficacy among minority patients, who are typically under-represented in clinical trials, he adds.

The second trial, for patients who have relapsed after a BMCA-targeted therapy, utilizes a new target, GPRC5D, which is “highly expressed in multiple myeloma cells and largely absent from normal tissues. It’s a highly selective toxicity to target this on multiple myeloma cells.” In current trials, this treatment also is showing high efficacy and might prove to be a “more favorable” treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.