Hematological Neoplasms

Bluebird bio, a pioneering biotechnology company, in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb, has developed a groundbreaking treatment called Abecma, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy that harnesses the power of the body’s immune system to combat this aggressive disease.

Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) is a groundbreaking chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy developed by Bristol Myers Squibb, a leading biopharmaceutical company.

Abecma is a groundbreaking form of cellular immunotherapy known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This cutting-edge treatment involves extracting a patient’s own T-cells (a type of immune cell) and genetically modifying them in a laboratory to recognize and attack cancer cells.

On April 9, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) as a personalized CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of triple-exposed relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

To date, four BCMA CAR-T products have been approved globally for the treatment of adult relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM), but there have been no head-to-head studies comparing the efficacy of these products.

Abecma is a first-in-class, BCMA-directed, personalized immune cell therapy. BCMA is a protein that is nearly universally expressed on multiple myeloma cancer cells.

Abecma is a CAR-T cell immunotherapy targeting BCMA, which is expressed on the surface of multiple myeloma cells. Abecma can recognize and bind to BCMA, leading to the proliferation and differentiation of CAR-T cells, subsequently killing cells expressing BCMA.

On April 5, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ciltacabtagene autoleucel (Carvykti) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after one or more lines of therapy.

Abecma is the world’s first approved BCMA-targeted CAR-T cell therapy, co-developed by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Bluebird Bio. It is a first-in-class, BCMA-directed, personalized immune cell therapy administered as a one-time intravenous infusion for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) after three or more prior lines of therapy.

BB2121 CAR-T, now known as Abecma, Idecabtagene Vicleucel, or ide-cel.

This approval expands the indication for Abecma, allowing it to treat earlier-stage multiple myeloma patients.

On March 26, 2021, Abecma® (Idecabtagene Vicleucel, ide-cel) received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma after four or more prior lines of therapy, becoming the first FDA-approved CAR-T cell immunotherapy targeting the B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA).