5. CAR-T for More Cancer Types
Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, better known as CAR-T, was the big breakthrough in 2017, with the approval of Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for children with leukemia and Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) for adults with lymphoma. The latest research shows that this customized treatment approach holds promise for more cancer types, including liso-cel for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, KTE-X19 for mantle cell lymphoma and a pair of dual-target CAR-T therapies for multiple myeloma. CAR-T therapies are not yet widely used, but that may start to change with this year’s announcement that Medicare will partially cover this highly effective but costly new type of immunotherapy.
