Multiple myeloma, EU green light for Car-T therapy

The European Commission has granted conditional marketing authorization (Aic) for idecabtagene vicleucel (Ide-cel), the first T-cell based immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor (Car-T) directed against maturation antigen B cell (Bcma), for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least 3 prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, and an anti-CD38 antibody, and who have demonstrated disease progression to the last therapy. This was announced by Bristol Myers Squibb (Bms), noting that Ide-cel is the first and only approved Car-T therapy aimed at recognizing and binding to Bcma, a protein almost universally expressed on multiple myeloma cells, killing diseased cells.