Dr. Ahmed on Axi-Cel Benefit in Patients With Primary Refractory LBCL

Sairah Ahmed, MD, associate professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the efficacy of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel; Yescarta) in patients with refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) who achieved complete remission (CR) to any prior treatment versus those who were primary refractory.

Findings from a single-center retrospective review, which were presented at the 2021 Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Meetings, demonstrated that the CR rate with axi-cel was significantly lower in patients who were primary refractory compared with patients who had achieved a CR to prior therapy, at 47% and 72%, respectively (P = .02), says Ahmed.

The median progression-free survival was 5 months in the primary refractory group versus 26 months in the group that had attained a prior CR (P = .10). The median overall survival was not reached in either group, although it was shorter in patients with primary refractory disease. Despite the numerical difference, this parameter was not found to be statistically significant, says Ahmed. These findings suggest that the CR denotes a difference in overall outcomes with CAR T-cell therapy, concludes Ahmed.