Dr. Dhakal on Responses Achieved With Orva-Cel in Multiple Myeloma

Binod Dhakal, MD, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, discusses responses achieved with orvacabtagene autoleucel (orva-cel; JCARH125) in patients with multiple myeloma.

Sixty-two patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma were enrolled to the phase 1/2 EVOLVE study (NCT03430011), which evaluated the CAR T-cell therapy. Participants received 3 different doses of orva-cel: 300 × 106 , 450 × 106 , and 600 × 10⁶ CAR+ T cells after lymphodepletion with fludarabine/cyclophosphamide, Dhakal says. Notably, patients were considered to be heavily pretreated, having received a median of 6 prior lines of therapy. Ninety-two percent of patients were penta-exposed.

Results from the trial were presented during the 2020 ASCO Virtual Scientific Program and showed that orva-cel resulted in an overall response rate of 91%, says Dhakal. Moreover, patients who received the product at 600 × 106 CAR+ T cells experienced a favorable minimal residual disease negativity rate, Dhakal notes.

Although the median follow-up time for the trial is shorter than other studies that have been done, mature data are highly anticipated, Dhakal concludes.