Dr Voorhees Highlights Durability of Cilta-Cel in Myeloma

Peter M. Voorhees, MD, a multiple myeloma specialist at Atrium Health/Levine Cancer Institute, in Charlotte, North Carolina, discusses the 5-year follow-up results from the CARTITUDE-1 trial (NCT03548207), highlighting the long-term efficacy and durability of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel; Carvykti) in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.
“Out of the 97 patients on CARTITUDE-1 who are treated with cilta-cel, 33% of them are alive and free of disease progression at the 5-year mark and beyond, which is really quite remarkable given that these patients are being treated with a single infusion of cilta-cel,” Voorhees notes in an interview with Targeted Oncology. According to the data, 33% of patients treated with a single infusion of cilta-cel remain alive and progression-free at 5 years or more. These results are striking, considering the advanced disease stage of the patient population.

In total, 97 patients were enrolled in the CARTITUDE-1 study, and the long-term follow-up confirms cilta-cel’s exceptional durability. The median progression-free survival (PFS) is now approximately 35 months, a dramatic improvement over historical expectations. “To put this in perspective,” Spiegel explained, “patients in similar clinical scenarios previously had a median PFS of only 4.6 months when treated with older therapies.”

Even more notable is the median overall survival (OS), which now exceeds 5 years. This marks a fivefold increase compared with the historical OS of roughly 1 year in this population. Voorhees emphasizes that these outcomes underscore cilta-cel's transformative potential in myeloma care: “[Extending overall survival] 5 times over is really quite a remarkable achievement.”

With a median follow-up duration now reaching 5 years, these results offer a compelling case for cilta-cel as a paradigm-shifting therapy. The data not only validate its long-term benefit, but also further establish chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy as a durable, one-time treatment that can offer years of disease control for patients who previously had few options.

REFERENCE:

Voorhees PM, Martin TG, Lin Y, et al. Long-term (≥5 year) remission and survival after treatment with ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel) in CARTITUDE-1 patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). J Clin Oncol. 2025;43(suppl 16):7507.