US FDA investigating safety risk of CAR-T (auto) therapies

FDA Investigating Serious Risk of T-cell Malignancy Following BCMA-Directed or CD19-Directed Autologous Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell Immunotherapies | FDA

Aside from the benefits of allogeneic over autologous (per yesterday's presentation) - this may be a further benefit of allogeneic type therapies - although both do require the lentiviral vector.



"Although the overall benefits of these products continue to outweigh their potential risks for their approved uses, FDA is investigating the identified risk of T cell malignancy with serious outcomes, including hospitalization and death, and is evaluating the need for regulatory action."

"As with all gene therapy products with integrating vectors (lentiviral or retroviral vectors), the potential risk of developing secondary malignancies is labeled as a class warning in the U.S. prescribing information (USPIs) for approved BCMA-directed and CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapies. The initial approvals of these products included post-marketing requirements (PMRs) under Section 505(o) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) to conduct 15-year long term follow-up observational safety studies to assess the long-term safety and the risk of secondary malignancies occurring after treatment."