Jane N. Winter, MD

Jane N. Winter, MD, moderator of the press conference on late-breaking abstracts at the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exhibition, commented on the BELINDA study in the context of two investigations that had been previously reported at the same meeting, showing excellent results for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma: the TRANSFORM study of lisocabtagene maraleucel and the ZUMA-7 study of axicabtagene ciloleucel.^1,2 Dr. Winter is Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a hematologist at Northwestern Medicine.

“I think that there are study design and implementation differences among the three different CAR T-cell trials for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma [presented at the 2021 ASH meeting]. It is likely that the capacity to move rapidly to lymphodepleting therapy and product infusion is key to impacting disease in these high-risk patients. Whether CAR T-cell therapy will prove more effective than standard-of-care therapy in patients with relapse beyond the 1-year mark will require additional studies,” Dr. Winter said. 

DISCLOSURE: Dr. Winter has received research funding and honoraria from Merck. Her spouse has served on data and safety monitoring boards for Ariad, Takeda, Epizyme, and Novartis; and has served as a consultant to Novartis, CVS Caremark, Agios, Gilead, Janssen, and Actinium Pharma.

REFERENCES

1. Kamdar M, Solomon SM, Arnason JE, et al: Lisocabtagene maraleucel, a CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, versus standard of care with salvage chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation as second-line treatment in patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma: Results from the randomized phase 3 Transform study. 2021 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition. Abstract 91. Presented December 11, 2021.

2. Locke FL, Miklos DB, Jacobson C, et al: Primary analysis of ZUMA7: A phase 3 randomized trial of axicabtagene ciloleucel versus standardofcare therapy in patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma. 2021 ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition. Abstract 2. Presented December 12, 2021.