Ciltacabtagene autoleucel -- also known by its trade name Carvykti -- was tested in a clinical trial involving 419 patients with multiple myeloma, whose disease was not responsive to the current frontline drug lenalidomide, a chemotherapy medicine.
Multiple myeloma affects a type of white blood cells called plasma cells, and can cause cascading harms to the bones, kidneys, and immune health. In the new clinical trial, half the patients were randomly assigned ciltacabtagene autoleucel, while the other half received a cocktail of drugs that represents the current standard of care, including chemotherapy and steroids.
CAR T-cell therapy involves removing the patient's disease fighting T cells, and genetically engineering them in a lab so they have specific proteins known as receptors that, once returned to the body, will seek out and destroy cancer cells.