New blood cancer treatment helps most patients in study

A new generation of experimental cell therapies has shown promising results in patients with blood cancer. In an early clinical trial, most participants achieved complete remission, and all patients in the high-dose group responded to treatment.

A new treatment for blood cancer has shown promising results in early-stage clinical trials, xrust reported. Biotech company Legend Biotech said its experimental cell therapy LB2501 has helped the majority of patients with aggressive forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of the most common types of blood cancer.

Preliminary data from the study were presented ahead of the annual congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA), which will take place in June in Stockholm. The results have attracted the attention of both oncology specialists and investors, as we are talking about a technology that can change the approach to the treatment of a number of serious oncological diseases.

Today, CAR-T therapy is considered one of the most promising methods for treating blood cancer. It is based on the use of the patient's own immune cells, which are genetically modified so that they can find and destroy cancer cells. However, the current procedure remains complex, expensive and requires weeks of preparation.

Legend Biotech's development offers a different approach. Instead of extracting a patient's cells and processing them in a laboratory, scientists are aiming to start the process of reprogramming them directly inside the body. After the drug is administered, the immune system itself begins to form cells that can attack the tumor.

Experts believe that if successful, this technology could make treatment for blood cancer more accessible and significantly reduce the time between diagnosis and the start of therapy.

The study involved 12 patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. All of them had previously undergone therapy, but the disease either returned or stopped responding to existing treatment methods.

Participants were divided into two groups and received different dosages of the drug LB2501. The most impressive results were recorded among patients who received a higher dose.

According to the researchers, a response to treatment was achieved in all six patients in this group. However, doctors found no signs of active disease in five of them. In other words, most participants achieved complete remission, a state in which the symptoms and signs of blood cancer disappear or become undetectable by modern diagnostic methods.

The issue of security turned out to be no less important. One of the problems with traditional cell therapy is the risk of serious side effects associated with excessive activation of the immune system. However, during trials of the new drug, researchers did not record fatal complications or severe adverse reactions.

Some patients experienced mild to moderate side effects, but these were temporary and resolved within a few days after administration of the drug.

Experts note that the results look especially promising against the background of the rapid development of cellular medicine. In recent years, the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have been actively investing in the development of new methods of treating blood cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and other oncological diseases using the capabilities of the human immune system.

However, it is too early to talk about a breakthrough. The study is in the first stage of clinical trials and involves only a small number of patients. The main task of this stage is to check the safety of therapy and select the optimal dosage.

Larger studies involving hundreds of patients and long-term follow-up will be needed to confirm the effectiveness of the new blood cancer treatment. Only after this will it be possible to assess the prospects for widespread use of the technology in clinical practice.

Nevertheless, the data obtained suggest an important step forward in the development of cell therapy. If the results are confirmed in further trials, patients with severe forms of blood cancer may have a faster, more affordable treatment option than current methods.

From the news https://www.reuters.com

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Xrust New blood cancer treatment helped most patients in study