Dr. Goy Discusses the Cost of CAR T-Cell Therapy

Andre Goy, MD, MS, chief, Division of Lymphoma, chairman and director, John Theurer Cancer Center, discusses the cost of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.

The cost of treatment—specifically with regard to CAR T-cell therapy—is an important aspect of oncology that needs to be considered, explains Goy. It is important that physicians work with payers to ensure that patients are able to derive the most benefit from available treatment modalities.

There are currently 2 CAR T-cell therapy products on the market: tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah) and axi-cel (axicabtagene ciloleucel; Yescarta). These products were approved by the FDA in May 2018 and October 2017, respectively, for patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. However, many centers have waiting lists for these products because there is no reimbursement system in place, says Goy. However, as more products are developed, there is potential to develop outpatient CAR T cells which may increase the number of patients who could benefit from the therapy.