New data from Gilead, Arcellx multiple myeloma CAR-T suggest benefit over rival treatment
With sales of its existing blood cancer CAR-T therapies weakening, Gilead Sciences needs anito-cel, its next CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, to succeed more than ever.
On Saturday, the company and its partner Arcellx reported deepening and durable responses with no concerning safety issues in the latest analysis of a pivotal-stage clinical trial.
Leerink Partners analyst Daina Graybosch, in a research note to clients, said the anito-cel data supported a "best in class profile" relative to Carvykti, its entrenched multiple myeloma CAR-T competitor, that would be "sufficient to drive physician enthusiasm and uptake in the U.S."
Gilead reiterated its plan to secure anito-cel's approval and launch the drug in 2026. The company has not disclosed more specific timing, although analysts expect an imminent submission to the Food and Drug Administration and an approval in the middle or second half of 2026.
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Almost 1 in 3 families facing pediatric ALL experience new catastrophic financial challenges
Cancer treatment is expensive. It's not just the therapy itself, but also transportation costs, quitting or taking time off work, and potentially childcare, said Daniel Zheng, a cancer researcher and pediatric oncologist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. That can all add up to major financial hardships, he said
In a survey of 422 participants, Zheng found that nearly a third of families experience new financial hardships within two years of therapy for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer.
Zheng surveyed participants for these hardships by asking questions about being able to afford things like food and housing, and about how their income changed.
Housing insecurity was the largest financial toxicity, Zheng said, with 22.2% of participants noting it as a new development. 15.9% of participants reported difficulty or worries about paying for food, and 8.6% of participants for utilities. During the press briefing, Zheng recalled a patient whose family was struggling to balance medical expenses for their child and one of the parents, and afford childcare for other kids.
"My friend, Katie Oranges, who was the nurse practitioner working with me, looked up and said, 'What's so sad is that for some of our families, their child's cancer diagnosis is not the hardest thing they're facing.' I think about this often, because it's devastating, heart breaking, deeply unfair," Zheng said.
The work shows that health systems need to screen for financial insecurity throughout the treatment period, not just at the beginning, Zheng said, and that interventions to alleviate financial toxicity need to be studied. "The intervention I am most excited about is directed cash transfer," he said. "That's the simplest proof of concept we can use to address financial toxicity and lends itself to flexibility."
—Angus Chen
Damian Garde/STAT
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