Kite Pharma received FDA approval

Kite Pharma received FDA approval for brexucabtagene autoleuceladult to treat patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

This approval comes after the promising efficacy data that was evaluated in ZUMA-3, a single-arm multicenter trial that evaluated brexucabtagene autoleucel, a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, in adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor ALL.  Patients received a single infusion of brexucabtagene autoleucel following completion of lymphodepleting chemotherapy.

The efficacy outcome measures used to support approval were complete response (CR) achieved within 3 months from infusion and duration of CR. Of the 54 patients evaluable for efficacy, 28 (52%; 95% CI: 38, 66) achieved CR within 3 months. With a median follow-up for responders of 7.1 months, the median duration of CR was not reached; the duration of CR was estimated to exceed 12 months for more than half the patients.

It is important to mentioned that brexucabtagene autoleucelbrexucabtagene autoleucel has a boxed warning for cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic toxicities. CRS occurred in 92% (Grade ≥3, 26%) and neurologic toxicities occurred in 87% (Grade ≥3, 35%). The most common non-laboratory adverse reactions (incidence ≥ 20%) included fever, CRS, hypotension, encephalopathy, tachycardias, nausea, chills, headache, fatigue, febrile neutropenia, diarrhea, musculoskeletal pain, hypoxia, rash, edema, tremor, infection with pathogen unspecified, constipation, decreased appetite, and vomiting.

The approved does is a single intravenous infusion of 1 x 106 CAR-positive viable T cells per kg body weight (maximum 1 x 108 CAR-positive viable T cells), preceded by fludarabine and cyclophosphamide for lymphodepleting chemotherapy.