Low CAR T Utilization in Elderly Patients
Overall, utilization of CAR-T cell therapy among older patients reportedly remains low, as demonstrated in one recent real-world study on the issue, involving 551 older patients with DLBCL.
The study showed that 19% of patients aged 65-69 and 22% of those aged 70-74 years received CAR-T cell therapy, compared with only 13% of those aged 75 and older.
“While CAR T-cell therapy in older patients is associated with favorable event-free survival comparable to outcomes in younger patients, CAR T-cell usage is low in older patients with DLBCL, which suggests an unmet need for more accessible, effective, and tolerable therapy,” reported first author Dia Chihara, MD, PhD, of the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas, and colleagues.
Noting that “the use of current CAR-T cell therapy products seemed to be limited to selected patients,” the authors added that “this may change in the future with next-generation CAR T-cell therapy products.”
Dr. Bories disclosed relationships with Kite Gilead, Novartis, BMD-Celgene, Abbvie, Servier, Janssen and the BMS foundation.