Update on bb2121, a promising therapy for heavily pre-treated patients

<p class="article-intro">Bb2121 is an anti-B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR T cell therapy that induces durable responses in patients with heavily pre-treated relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. An update on safety and efficacy of this phase-I-trial was presented at the EHA congress.</p> <hr /> <p class="article-content"><p>The anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy bb2121 has demonstrated substantial activity in heavily pre-treated patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Updated results from 43 patients after five more months of follow-up show that bb2121 remains generally well-tolerated while inducing deep and durable responses in patients with advanced MM.&nbsp;</p> <p>The median PFS among 18 patients treated with active doses in the dose escalation cohort was 11,8 months and a 96 % ORR was reported in 22 patients treated with &gt;150 &times; 10⁶ CAR T cells. Additionally, an unprecedented rate of MRD negativity was observed, with 100 % of 16 evaluable responders achieving MRD negativity. Comparable activity was observed in patients with low (&lt;50 % ) versus high (&ge;50 % ) BCMA-expressing myeloma (ORR of 100 % vs 91 % , respectively).&nbsp;</p> <p>Results from this ongoing study are informing the global pivotal phase II trial (KarMMaTM) in patients with relapsed and refractory MM, which is now open for enrollment in North America and Europe.</p> <p><strong><em>Reference:</em></strong></p> <p><em>Berdeja J et al.: Bb2121 anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: updated results from a multicenter phase I study. EHA Annual Congress, abstract # S138</em></p></p>