BACK of the BOOK
Heard in the Blogosphere
What if the Magic CAR T-Cell
Bullet Misses?
In Bloomberg, patients and hematologists/oncologists
offered cautious optimism about “miraculous” chimeric
antigen receptor T-cell therapies.
“It can be a magic bullet, but that’s only for 39 or 40 percent of patients.
This is the best option we have right now, but it’s not a slam-dunk.”
—Frederick Locke, MD, leader of the Immune-Cell Therapy initiative at Moffitt Cancer Center
“One of the biggest challenges we face using this therapy is to manage expecta-
tions because of the responses we’ve seen. There is a lot of hope and that hope is
deserved, but we do think about the fact that some patients don’t respond.”
—Shannon Maude, MD, PhD, pediatric hematologist/oncologist at
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
“Be hopeful and have patience. Some days are normal, some are harder. Stay
in a positive frame of mind and things will work out.”
—Shahzad Bhat, a patient diagnosed with lymphoma who
received axicabtagene ciloleucel
“Understanding which patients are likely to benefit helps us to ensure we
give the medicine to the right patient. What you don’t want to do is use
therapy where it brings no value to patients, adds to cost and doesn’t lead to
better results.”
—Joseph Alvarnas, MD, hematologist/oncologist at City of Hope and chair of the
American Society of Hematology’s Committee on Practice