USFDA approves Yescarta as first CAR T-cell therapy for Lymphoma

Yescarta is First CAR T-cell therapy to receive NCCN treatment guideline category 1 recommendation --

Kite, a Gilead company, announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) CAR T-cell therapy for adult patients with large B-cell lymphoma that is refractory to first-line chemoimmunotherapy or that relapses within 12 months of first-line chemoimmunotherapy. Yescarta demonstrated a clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in event-free survival over the current standard of care (SOC) that has been in place for decades. EFS was determined by blinded central review and defined as the time from randomization to the earliest date of disease progression, the commencement of new lymphoma therapy, or death from any cause. Additionally, 2.5 times more patients receiving Yescarta (40.5%) were alive at two years without disease progression or need for additional cancer treatment, after their one-time infusion of Yescarta vs. SOC (16.3%), and the median EFS was four-fold greater (8.3 months vs. 2.0 months) with Yescarta vs. SOC. Yescarta is also being reviewed by global regulatory authorities for additional indications inclusive of the ZUMA-7 patient population. ZUMA-7 is considered a landmark trial for being the first and largest trial of its kind, with the longest follow-up.

Earlier this month, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) updated its Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for B-cell Lymphomas to include Yescarta for “Relapsed disease

Christi Shaw, Chief Executive Officer of Kite: “Kite started with a very bold goal: creating the hope of survival through cell therapy. Today’s FDA approval brings that hope to more patients by enabling the power of CAR T-cell therapy to be used earlier in the treatment journey. This milestone has been years in the making. On behalf of the entire Kite community, we would like to thank the patients and physicians who have been on this journey with us. You are what drives us every day to explore the full potential of cell therapy.”

CAR T-cell therapies are individually made starting from a patient’s own white blood cells, called T-cells. The cells are removed through a process similar to donating blood and sent to Kite’s specialized manufacturing facilities where they are engineered to target the patient’s cancer, expanded, and then returned to the hospital for infusion back into the patient. Referring physicians and patients can immediately begin accessing Yescarta CAR T-cell therapy for this new FDA-approved indication through Kite’s 112 authorized treatment centers across the U.S.