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CAR-Ts poised to shakeup blood cancer
Posted 13 December 2017
Innovative therapies headlined this week's 59th American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Atlanta with new treatments such as CAR-T promising to upheave current treatment regimes.
One of the new therapies, Celgene and Bluebird bios' CAR-T bb2121, presented extremely positive data in a multiple myeloma trial.
Eighty-six per cent of the 21 patients tested in the phase 1b trial had an overall response to the therapy while 56 per cent were in complete remission nine months after the single dose.
The results have set up Celgene/Bluebird as potential leaders in the multiple myeloma field as the companies push the drug through the pipeline towards a larger, phase 2 study of 80 patients, which is currently underway.
Novartis also posted updated data on its CAR-T Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel-T) for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), showing durability of remission rates in 30 per cent of patients six months after initial treatment.
Currently Kymriah is approved in the US for paediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, with filings in DBCLC underway in the US and EU.
Rival Gilead, which has the only other approved CAR-T therapy Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), also posted updated data showing 56 per cent of aggressive large B-cell lymphoma patients were alive a year following treatment.
The two CAR-Ts are not alone in the B-cell lymphoma space however, with Juno and Celgene also reporting positive data for JCAR017 as the two companies set sights on a US filing next year.
Nor was it only CAR-T therapies which showed promise in DLBCL, with Roche also posting positive data at the meeting for polatuzumab vedotin, a new therapy which has won breakthrough designations in the US and EU.
Phase 2 data showed the Roche drug had a complete response rate of 40 per cent in patients with DLBCL, potentially paving the way for a quicker FDA filing as the US regulator can review earlier data sets for drugs designated as breakthrough therapies.
Blueprint Medicine's avapritinib also caused excitement after the biotech reported a 72 per cent overall response rate in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis, a rare condition.
Older drugs were also included in the line-up of presentations at the meeting, with new data released for Janssen and AbbVie's Imbruvica (ibrutinib) supporting its use in an earlier setting for mantle cell lymphoma patients, while Seattle posted data supporting Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) in first-line use for classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
Yajun Ma
yajun.ma@lushmedia.com.au
Posted 13 December 2017
Innovative therapies headlined this week's 59th American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Atlanta with new treatments such as CAR-T promising to upheave current treatment regimes.
One of the new therapies, Celgene and Bluebird bios' CAR-T bb2121, presented extremely positive data in a multiple myeloma trial.
Eighty-six per cent of the 21 patients tested in the phase 1b trial had an overall response to the therapy while 56 per cent were in complete remission nine months after the single dose.
The results have set up Celgene/Bluebird as potential leaders in the multiple myeloma field as the companies push the drug through the pipeline towards a larger, phase 2 study of 80 patients, which is currently underway.
Novartis also posted updated data on its CAR-T Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel-T) for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), showing durability of remission rates in 30 per cent of patients six months after initial treatment.
Currently Kymriah is approved in the US for paediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, with filings in DBCLC underway in the US and EU.
Rival Gilead, which has the only other approved CAR-T therapy Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), also posted updated data showing 56 per cent of aggressive large B-cell lymphoma patients were alive a year following treatment.
The two CAR-Ts are not alone in the B-cell lymphoma space however, with Juno and Celgene also reporting positive data for JCAR017 as the two companies set sights on a US filing next year.
Nor was it only CAR-T therapies which showed promise in DLBCL, with Roche also posting positive data at the meeting for polatuzumab vedotin, a new therapy which has won breakthrough designations in the US and EU.
Phase 2 data showed the Roche drug had a complete response rate of 40 per cent in patients with DLBCL, potentially paving the way for a quicker FDA filing as the US regulator can review earlier data sets for drugs designated as breakthrough therapies.
Blueprint Medicine's avapritinib also caused excitement after the biotech reported a 72 per cent overall response rate in patients with advanced systemic mastocytosis, a rare condition.
Older drugs were also included in the line-up of presentations at the meeting, with new data released for Janssen and AbbVie's Imbruvica (ibrutinib) supporting its use in an earlier setting for mantle cell lymphoma patients, while Seattle posted data supporting Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) in first-line use for classical Hodgkin lymphoma.
Yajun Ma
yajun.ma@lushmedia.com.au
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