Longer Survival With Better Quality of Life: CAR-T for Multiple Myeloma

Krina Patel, MD, MSc, co–editor-in-chief of Blood Cancers Today, is section chief and research lead for multiple myeloma (MM) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Patel was the first author for an analysis of KarMMa-3, a phase 3 randomized clinical trial which compared the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy idecabtagene vicleucel (ide-cel) with standard treat-to-progression regimens in relapsed or refractory MM. She presented this analysis at a poster session of the International Myeloma Society (IMS) 22nd Annual Meeting and Exposition in Toronto, Ontario.

The analysis showed that a one-time infusion of ide-cel produced significantly longer event-free survival (EFS) than standard regimens in patients with relapsed or refractory MM. However, as Dr. Patel explains in this interview with Blood Cancers Today, quality of life (QOL) is an important dimension to account for in this population.

“As much as it's really important that we look at efficacy in terms of overall response rates and EFS, that quality of life piece is really important, especially for our myeloma patients when they're on constantly multiple therapies for decades now,” Dr. Patel emphasized.

In the interview, Dr. Patel described the unique approach her research team chose for its KarMMa-3 analysis: To define and focus on QOL-adjusted EFS and then compare this measure between ide-cel and standard regimens. They found ide-cel produced markedly longer QOL-adjusted EFS in patients than standard regimens.

“The 225 patients that received ide-cel, they had about 14.48 months where they were not on study treatment, not hospitalized with the event-free survival, versus with the standard regimens it was about 6.64 months where when patients were not hospitalized they had better quality of life, but most of those patients were on study treatment while they are also not hospitalized,” Dr. Patel elaborated.

Continuing, Dr. Patel said that the study illustrates how patients receive a considerable QoL benefit from CAR T-cell therapy as compared with standard regimens, a benefit her own patients very often report experiencing. She added that thanks to extended survival accompanied by less symptom burden, patients with relapse following CAR T-cell therapy are in a better management position than patients with relapse following standard regimens:

“I think, in the end, that is going to allow more patients to survive longer because they'll actually be able to undergo more treatments down the road if we give them more treatment-free periods,” Dr. Patel concluded.

Reference

International Myeloma Society 22nd (2025) Annual Meeting and Exposition. Accessed September 24, 2025. Poster Presentation PA-145.

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