Journal Article

Cilta-cel or Standard Care in Lenalidomide-Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Kim, Seok Jin, Cohen, Yaël C., Fernández de Larrea, Carlos, Cavo, Michele, Moreau, Philippe, Schecter, Jordan M., Roeloffzen, Wilfried, Dytfeld, Dominik, Lendvai, Nikoletta, Connors, Kaitlyn, Florendo, Erika, Jackson, Carolyn C., Gilbert, Jane, Spencer, Andrew, Ishida, Tadao, Martínez-López, Joaquín, Li, Katherine, Popat, Rakesh, Yeh, Tzu-min, Pacaud, Lida, San-Miguel, Jesús, Patel, Nitin, Yong, Kwee, Khan, Abdullah M., Nagle, Sarah, Harrison, Simon J., Costa, Luciano J., Zudaire, Enrique, Anguille, Sébastien, Chen, Diana, Mateos, María-Victoria, Ho, P. Joy, Leleu, Xavier, Dhakal, Binod, van de Donk, Niels W.C.J., Touzeau, Cyrille, Slaughter, Ana, Oriol, Albert, Griffin, James, Lonardi, Carolina, Avivi, Irit, Sidana, Surbhi, Einsele, Hermann

2023

Overview

Ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel), a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed CAR T-cell therapy, is effective in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. We investigated cilta-cel in earlier treatment lines in patients with lenalidomide-refractory disease. In this phase 3, randomized, open-label trial, we assigned patients with lenalidomide-refractory multiple myeloma to receive cilta-cel or the physician's choice of effective standard care. All the patients had received one to three previous lines of treatment. The primary outcome was progression-free survival. A total of 419 patients underwent randomization (208 to receive cilta-cel and 211 to receive standard care). At a median follow-up of 15.9 months (range, 0.1 to 27.3), the median progression-free survival was not reached in the cilta-cel group and was 11.8 months in the standard-care group (hazard ratio, 0.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.18 to 0.38; P<0.001). Progression-free survival at 12 months was 75.9% (95% CI, 69.4 to 81.1) in the cilta-cel group and 48.6% (95% CI, 41.5 to 55.3) in the standard-care group. More patients in the cilta-cel group than in the standard-care group had an overall response (84.6% vs. 67.3%), a complete response or better (73.1% vs. 21.8%), and an absence of minimal residual disease (60.6% vs. 15.6%). Death from any cause was reported in 39 patients and 46 patients, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.5 to 1.2). Most patients reported grade 3 or 4 adverse events during treatment. Among the 176 patients who received cilta-cel in the as-treated population, 134 (76.1%) had cytokine release syndrome (grade 3 or 4, 1.1%; no grade 5), 8 (4.5%) had immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (all grade 1 or 2), 1 had movement and neurocognitive symptoms (grade 1), 16 (9.1%) had cranial nerve palsy (grade 2, 8.0%; grade 3, 1.1%), and 5 (2.8%) had CAR-T-related peripheral neuropathy (grade 1 or 2, 2.3%; grade 3, 0.6%). A single cilta-cel infusion resulted in a lower risk of disease progression or death than standard care in lenalidomide-refractory patients with multiple myeloma who had received one to three previous therapies. (Funded by Janssen and Legend Biotech; CARTITUDE-4 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04181827.).

• Publisher: Massachusetts Medical Society
• Subject: Antigens / Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological - therapeutic use / Apheresis / B-Cell Maturation Antigen - immunology / Cell therapy / Cognition / Cranial nerves / Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / Hematology / Humans / Immunotherapy / Immunotherapy, Adoptive - methods / Lenalidomide - adverse effects / Leukemia / Lymphocytes B / Lymphocytes T / Lymphoma / Minimal residual disease / Multiple myeloma / Multiple Myeloma - drug therapy / Multiple Myeloma - mortality / Neurotoxicity / Neurotoxicity Syndromes / Oncology / Paralysis / Peripheral neuropathy / Progression-Free Survival / Risk assessment / Targeted cancer therapy / Treatments in Oncology