Caron A. Jacobson, MD, on What Patients Should Know About the Phase 2 ZUMA-5 Study

In an interview with CancerNetwork®, Caron A. Jacobson, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, explained the possible benefits of axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Results from the interim analysis of the phase 2 ZUMA-5 study, presented at the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Virtual Scientific Program, suggested that axi-cel demonstrated significant and durable clinical benefit in this patient population.

Though this particular study requires further follow-up, the investigators suggested that axi-cel may be a promising therapeutic approach for this patient population.

Transcription:

So, I would say that this is a one-time therapy that has a very, very high response rate, meaning that patients’ disease gets better after the single infusion of these CAR T-cells, with over 80% of patients actually entering remission and, we need more time to follow these patients, but with the, you know, with follow up now out to 15.3 months, a lot of these remissions seem to be durable and lasting. And that that, you know, that we hope that that translates into people living longer and even potentially being cured of their disease. And on the flip side of that, we worry about safety. Obviously, whenever we're testing a new therapy and the safety profile appears to be manageable and reversible and self-limited… So, you know, it's a win-win.