Dr. Banerjee on the Rationale to Create a Supportive Mobile Health App for CAR T-Cell Therapy

Rahul Banerjee, MD, clinical fellow of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the rationale to create a supportive mobile health companion app for CAR T-cell therapy recipients and their caregivers ​to use throughout the therapeutic process.

The landscape for providing CAR T-cell therapy to patients with hematologic malignancies has changed rapidly, Banerjee explains. Only 5 years ago, CAR T-cell therapy recipients were always hospitalized for 2 weeks at a time, Banerjee explains. However, in the current landscape, patients are only hospitalized for about 1 week at a time, Banerjee adds. Moreover, multiple centers across the country are experimenting with outpatient CAR T-cell therapies by trying to overcome barriers such as adverse effects (AEs), Banerjee says.

These AEs, including cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity, that require the expertise of theirspecialized centers, Banerjee continues. As such, patients must return to the center that administered their CAR T-cell therapy for any complications that arise, Banerjee says.

However, researchers are developing the “Companion for CAR-T” app is attempting to see if there is a way to optimize care for patients in need, while allowing low-risk patients to increase their time at home, Banerjee concludes.