Moffitt Cancer Center treats first US patient with newly FDA-approved CAR-T therapy

The USA-based Moffitt Cancer Center announced that last week it treated the first patient commercially in the USA with the recently Food and Drug Administration-approved Yescarta (tisagenlecleucel), a chimeric antigen receptor T cell, or CAR-T, therapy for patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Yescarta, which is manufactured by Kite Pharma, now a Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) subsidiary, received FDA approval on October 18. As commercial use for Yescarta gets underway, Moffitt is actively enrolling eligible patients, with 10 individuals awaiting treatment

“We are proud to lead worldwide efforts in this next phase of CAR-T treatment for lymphoma patients and bring this critical innovation to as many patients as possible,” said Frederick Locke, vice chairman of the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt. “The clinical trials showed us the incredible results this treatment can have for patients; we expect many lives will be extended as commercial opportunity expands first from the United States, to other countries around the world,” Dr Locke added.