Jesus Berdeja, MD

Jesus Berdeja, MD, director of myeloma research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute and hematology specialist at Tennessee Oncology, shares factors oncologists in the community should consider when referring patients for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy with the newly approved agent ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel; Carvykti).

The FDA granted approval to the agent for the treatment of 

patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma

 who have received 4 or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.

 has been difficult. To ensure patients get the treatment they need, he suggests early referral to CAR T-cell therapy.

| The advice is that this is a very active drug and should be considered for your patients. It's a drug that is not going to be given by the community oncologists necessarily unless they have the ability to give CAR T cells, meaning it’s a very specialized sort of centralized center. But most likely, they're going to be working with a CAR T specialist to provide these drugs. But it's important to identify your patients early on. And I would recommend that as soon as you have a patient that has been exposed to a proteasome inhibitor and IMID, and an anti-CD38 antibody and is progressing, do not wait until you've exhausted all lines of therapy.

Ideally, that patient will be known to the CAR T-cell center and will be placed on a waitlist until they're eligible for treatment but that allows for good communication and hopefully maximize the chances that the patient will receive their CAR T cells.

| Right now, there’s a lot of competition for some of these spots. We don’t know what it will be like for cilta-cel because it was just approved. But we know that with ide-cel, the completion was fierce. There were wait times of up to 6 to 9 months for some of these patients. So, having another product hopefully will mitigate some of that, but we don’t know for sure yet. So, I would recommend that early referral so that at the right time, the patient will be eligible for the product.

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Jesus Berdeja, MD, shares factors oncologists in the community should consider when referring patients for chimeric antigen receptorT-cell therapy with the newly approved agent ciltacabtagene autoleucel.

Considerations When Selecting Patients With R/R Myeloma for Cilta-Cel Treatment

Jesus Berdeja, MD, the director of Multiple Myeloma Research at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the next steps for the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy JNJ-4528 following the data from the phase 1b portion of the CARTITUDE-1 (NCT03548207) trial in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

The phase 2 portion of this study is now fully enrolled, says Berdeja. He is looking forward to combining data in this study with the findings from the phase 1b portion. The same dose from the initial study will be used in the phase 2. The purpose is to evaluate the durability of responses in this patient population, which have looked promising in the recently published data.

The FDA granted a Breakthrough Therapy Designation to JNJ-5428, and Berdeja hopes this will be a candidate for approval in the population of patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Phase 2 and 3 studies are also underway looking at this CAR T product in earlier lines of therapy for patients with multiple myeloma, including the high-risk populations. The agent is even being evaluated as a frontline consolidation therapy in the myeloma landscape.

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Jesus Berdeja, MD, discusses the next steps for the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy JNJ-4528 following the data from the phase 1b portion of the CARTITUDE-1 trial in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.

JNJ-4528 Remains Under Evaluation for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Jesus Berdeja, MD, Director of Multiple Myeloma Research, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses results of a study that explored bb2121, an anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy, in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma during the 2017 ASH Annual Meeting.

Jesus Berdeja, MD | Authors

Articles

Considerations When Selecting Patients With R/R Myeloma for Cilta-Cel Treatment

JNJ-4528 Remains Under Evaluation for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Dr. Berdeja Discusses Results for bb2121 in Multiple Myeloma