scholarly journals Are CAR-T therapies living up to their hype? A study using real-world data in two cohorts to determine how well they are actually working in practice compared with bone marrow transplants

2019 ◽  
pp. bmjebm-2019-111226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane Schulthess ◽  
Daniel Gassull ◽  
Amr Makady ◽  
Anna Ludlow ◽  
Brian Rothman ◽  
...  

With the increasing use of new regulatory tools, like the Food and Drug Administration’s breakthrough designation, there are increasing challenges for European health technology assessors (HTAs) to make an accurate assessment of the long-term value and performance of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, particularly for orphan conditions, such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The aim of this study was to demonstrate a novel methodology harnessing longitudinal real-world data, extracted from the electronic health records of a medical centre functioning as a clinical trial site, to develop an accurate analysis of the performance of CAR-T compared with the next-best treatment option, namely allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). The study population comprised 43 subjects in two cohorts: 29 who had undergone HCT treatment and 14 who had undergone CAR-T therapy. The 3-year relapse-free survival probability was 46% (95% CI: 08% to 79%) in the CAR-T cohort and 68% (95% CI: 46% to 83%) in the HCT cohort. To explain the lower RFS probability in the CAR-T cohort compared with the HCT cohort, the authors hypothesised that the CAR-T cohort had a far higher level of disease burden. This was validated by log-rank test analysis (p=0.0001) and confirmed in conversations with practitioners at the study site. The authors are aware that the small populations in this study will be seen as limiting the generalisability of the findings to some readers. However, in consultation with many European HTAs and regulators, there is broad agreement that this methodology warrants further investigation with a larger study.

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 5026-5026
Author(s):  
Nathan W. Sweeney ◽  
Jennifer M. Ahlstrom

Abstract Background: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are uniquely susceptible to viral and bacterial illnesses, including COVID-19, due to their immunocompromised state, age, treatments, and comorbidities. With the advent of COVID-19, changes to treatment were recommended whenever possible, in order to reduce visits to the clinic. The total effect of these changes on cancer patients with multiple myeloma remains unclear. The aim of this project was to assess treatment management by changes to treatment of patients with MM during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We utilized HealthTree ® Cure Hub for Multiple Myeloma (healthree.org) and invited patients with active MM cancer or precursor conditions to participate in an online survey. We analyzed patient responses to questions regarding their myeloma treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: 978 MM patients participated in the survey between February to June 2021. Since March 2020, 151 patients (15%) either delayed, postponed, or stopped a myeloma treatment because of COVID-19. The four most common treatments were daratumumab (20%), lenalidomide (15%), stem cell transplant (13%) and zoledronic acid (11%). There were 110 patients that canceled a planned myeloma treatment. Of these patients, 55 (50%) canceled a planned chemotherapy, 15 (14%) canceled a stem cell transplant, 1 (1%) canceled radiation and 39 (35%) indicated other. Eight patients replaced an intravenous or subcutaneous treatment with an oral treatment because of COVID-19. There were 9 patients that started a new myeloma treatment because of COVID-19, the most common being daratumumab (44%), ixazomib (22%), lenalidomide (22%) and carfilzomib (11%). Finally, 15 patients had their lenalidomide (50%), steroid (42%) and carfilzomib (8%) dose changed. Conclusions: Our results show that decision-making regarding treatment changes were made on an individual basis and that patients who required a change in treatment were the minority. Aggregating real-world data can provide evidence that despite the changes, patients with MM still received and efficacious treatment and avoided putting these patients at risk or mortality. Disclosures Ahlstrom: Bristol Myers Squibb: Other: Patient Advisory; Janssen: Other: Patient Advisory; Pfizer: Other: Patient Advisory; Takeda: Other: Patient Advisory.


Rheumatology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suchitra Kataria ◽  
Vinod Ravindran

Abstract The diversity of diseases in rheumatology and variability in disease prevalence necessitates greater data parity in disease presentation, treatment responses including adverse events to drugs and various comorbidities. Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard for drug development and performance evaluation. However, when the drug is applied outside the controlled environment, the outcomes may differ in patient populations. In this context, the need to understand the macro and micro changes involved in disease evolution and progression becomes important and so is the need for harvesting and harnessing the real-world data from various resources to use them in generating real-world evidence. Digital tools with potential relevance to rheumatology can potentially be leveraged to obtain greater patient insights, greater information on disease progression and disease micro processes and even in the early diagnosis of diseases. Since the patients spend only a minuscule portion of their time in hospital or in a clinic, using modern digital tools to generate realistic, bias-proof, real-world data in a non-invasive patient-friendly manner becomes critical. In this review we have appraised different digital mediums and mechanisms for collecting real-world data and proposed digital care models for generating real-world evidence in rheumatology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faulkner LG ◽  
◽  
Suresh C ◽  
Sachedina S ◽  
Barton L ◽  
...  

Bortezomib is a proteasome inhibitor that has shown efficacy in the treatment of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. The VTD (Bortezomib, Thalidomide, Dexamethasone) triplet chemotherapy regime is frequently used as induction prior to autologous stem cell transplant, in line with national and international recommendations. The manufacturer’s protocol for Bortezomib recommend a twice weekly dosing schedule. Adverse effects are common, most notably peripheral and autonomic neuropathy. These adverse effects can be disabling, even at lower grades and often limit drug tolerance. We propose a once weekly Bortezomib treatment regime as an alternate modus operandi. Here we use real-world data to demonstrate that weekly compared to bi-weekly Bortezomib is better tolerated whilst achieving similar outcomes in terms of initial therapeutic response. We demonstrate a trend of lower incidence of neuropathy- both peripheral and autonomic- with the weekly regime. There was also a trend of fewer serious adverse events with the weekly regime with lower rates of hospital admissions due to infections. In addition, we show that this regime is associated with better Thalidomide tolerance. We believe that delivery of Bortezomib through a weekly regime facilitates patients being able to maintain on Bortezomib longer and receive higher cumulative doses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. S433
Author(s):  
Rohit Reddy Lavu ◽  
Lalit Kumar ◽  
Raja Mounika Velagapudi ◽  
Sreenivas Konda ◽  
Shalabh Arora

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Valeria Belleudi ◽  
Francesco Trotta ◽  
Filomena Fortinguerra ◽  
Francesca R. Poggi ◽  
Odoardo Olimpieri ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 8020-8020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz S. Nowakowski ◽  
Thomas David Rodgers ◽  
Dario Marino ◽  
Maurizio Frezzato ◽  
Anna Maria Barbui ◽  
...  

8020 Background: Patients with R/R DLBCL ineligible for autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) have a poor prognosis. In these patients, tafasitamab (anti-CD19 antibody) plus lenalidomide (LEN) has shown encouraging results in the open-label, single-arm, phase II L-MIND study (n = 81; NCT02399085). To evaluate the contribution of tafasitamab to the activity of this doublet, we conducted a global, real-world study of patients treated with LEN monotherapy (RE-MIND; NCT04150328). Here we present the primary analysis of a 1:1 patient-level matched comparison between the L-MIND and RE-MIND cohorts. Methods: Patients treated with LEN monotherapy for R/R DLBCL were enrolled in the observational, retrospective RE-MIND cohort. As in L-MIND, patients had 1–3 prior systemic therapies, including ≥1 CD20-targeting regimen; were aged ≥18 years; and were not eligible for ASCT. A 1:1 estimated propensity score (ePS) matching methodology ensured balancing of nine pre-specified baseline covariates. The primary analysis set, Matched Analysis Set 25 (MAS25), included patients who received a LEN starting dose of 25 mg/day. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed best objective response rate (ORR). Key secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS) and complete response (CR) rate. Results: 490 patients were enrolled in RE-MIND across 58 centers in the US and Europe, of which 140 fulfilled the ePS matching criteria. The MAS25 included 76 patients each from the two cohorts. Baseline characteristics between cohorts were comparable. The primary endpoint was met with a significantly better ORR of 67.1% (95% CI: 55.4–77.5) for the L-MIND cohort versus 34.2% (95% CI: 23.7–46.0) for the RE-MIND cohort (odds ratio 3.89; 95% CI: 1.90–8.14; p < 0.0001). The CR rate was 39.5% (95% CI: 28.4–51.4) in the L-MIND cohort and 13.2% (95% CI: 6.5–22.9) in the RE-MIND cohort. A significant difference in OS favored the L-MIND cohort (HR = 0.499; 95% CI: 0.317–0.785). ORR and CR outcomes in the RE-MIND cohort were similar to the published literature for LEN monotherapy in R/R DLBCL. Conclusions: Significantly better ORR, CR and OS indicate potential synergistic effects of the tafasitamab + LEN combination in ASCT-ineligible R/R DLBCL. ePS-based 1:1 matching allows robust estimation of the treatment effect of tafasitamab when added to LEN. RE-MIND demonstrates the utility of real-world data in interpreting non-randomized trials. Clinical trial information: NCT04150328 .


Blood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 4738-4738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajai Chari ◽  
Maneesha Mehra ◽  
Mary Slavcev ◽  
Annette Lam ◽  
Ravi Potluri ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: High-dose therapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) is a standard treatment option in FLMM patients who are ≤65 years of age. Few studies have examined the real-world patient characteristics and outcomes associated with those who receive an SCT compared with non-SCT patients. Aims: To use real-world data to characterize patients with FLMM who received SCT compared with those who did not receive SCT, and determine their overall survival (OS). Methods: Data were extracted from 3 real-world data sources from the United States: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare Linked (January 2007 to December 2014), OPTUM™ Commercial Claims (January 2000 to March 2017), and OPTUM™ Electronic Medical Records (EMR; January 2007 to March 2016) databases. Patients with 1) an index MM diagnosis on or after 1 January 2007 who 2) had known gender and medical prescription coverage at the time of diagnosis, 3) had a 1-year look-back period prior to index diagnosis, 4) had no prior cancers in the 1-year period prior to index diagnosis, and 5) had at least 1 line of treatment were included. SCT patients were defined as those who received an SCT at any time during their follow-up. Patient characteristics such as age (at index diagnosis), gender, and comorbidities (180 days before start of first line of therapy [LOT1]) were descriptively compared. OS was evaluated from the start of LOT1 using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariable Cox regression analyses. Results: A total of 9,323 patients were analyzed, comprising 1,599 SCT (17.2%) and 7,724 (82.8%) non-SCT patients. Patient characteristics and OS are summarized in the Table. Descriptive differences in patient characteristics were observed between SCT and non-SCT patients, including median age at start of frontline treatment, gender, and incidences of baseline comorbidities. In terms of survival outcomes, median OS was not reached (NR; 95% confidence interval [CI], 91.8-not estimable [NE]) for SCT patients compared with 45.1 (95% CI, 43.1-46.8) months for non-SCT patients. Age at index diagnosis, gender, time to and year of treatment initiation, and presence of baseline comorbidities were significantly associated with OS. Accounting for differences in these patient characteristics, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for OS in non-SCT versus SCT patients was 2.29 (95% CI, 2.01-2.61; P <0.0001). Among the different age subgroups (<65, 65-74, and ≥75 years of age), the OS benefit for SCT versus non-SCT was maintained across these subgroups (Figure). Conclusions: In a real-world setting, FLMM patients who received SCT were younger and had lower rates of several comorbidities at baseline compared with non-SCT patients. A significant OS benefit was observed among patients who had received SCT, underlying the need for more effective treatment options in patients who do not receive SCT. Disclosures Chari: Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Array Biopharma: Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotechnology: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; The Binding Site: Consultancy. Mehra:Janssen Global Services, LLC: Employment. Slavcev:Janssen Global Services, LLC: Employment. Lam:Janssen Global Services, LLC: Employment. Potluri:SmartAnalyst Inc.: Employment. Kaufman:Abbvie: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy; BMS: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Other: data monitoring committee.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel-Angel Perales ◽  
Marcelo C. Pasquini

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Bernal-Delgado ◽  
F Estupiñán-Romero ◽  
O Zeynep ◽  
R Lyons ◽  
D Ivanković

Abstract Background The foundations of evidence-based health policy-making are transitioning from the use of partial evidence yielded elsewhere and the application of heuristic rules, to the development of learning systems based on the reuse of routine data collected by the same institutions that have to implement those policies. Supporting that transition, the scientific production of real-world evidence (RWE) is becoming pivotal, particularly in international policy-making. However, leveraging the immense wealth of data curated in European public institutions, requires the development of a new world-class research infrastructure and a supporting interoperability framework (IOF). Methods Based on the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) legal, organizational, semantic, and technical issues are being assessed. While legal, organizational and technical topics are analyzed from the perspective of the type of infrastructure, centralized or federated, to be developed, semantic interoperability is explored using three case studies on the linkage of different real world data sources: for characterizing resilient populations, studying the burden of dementia, and the effectiveness of stroke care pathways. Results Preliminary assessments advocate for the development of a federated infrastructure where data remain in house and research questions, data access and interoperability services are shared according to the capacity of each specific partner in the federation. Interoperability services for such an infrastructure should cover: a) the development and maintenance of a common data model to assure semantic interoperability, b) the development of self-contained distributed analytical pipelines; and c) the implementation of a training program aimed at increasing the capacity of each RI hub. Conclusions An interoperable federated research infrastructure is required to leverage the potential of real world data for European health policy-making. InfAct is paving the way.


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