Five-Year Data Highlights Cilta-Cel’s Impact in Myeloma, Says Dr Voorhees

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) of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (cilta-cel; Carvykti) for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Among the 97 patients treated with this CAR T-cell therapy, 33% remained progression-free and in remission five years after a single infusion, a result that far exceeds historical outcomes for this heavily pretreated population.

Particularly compelling are findings from a cohort at a single institution, where patients underwent annual minimal residual disease (MRD) testing and PET/CT imaging. All patients who had achieved a stringent complete response were monitored using this approach. Every patient in that cohort remained MRD-negative and in complete metabolic response at 5 years and beyond, suggesting the potential for long-term disease control, and possibly even functional cures.

“So, are these patients cured? I think it is hard to say at this point, but there's absolutely no question that the durability of the remissions that we are seeing in this group of patients is longer than anything we have seen in a previous study,” says Voorhees in an interview.

The 5-year median overall survival (OS) data further distinguish cilta-cel from other treatments. Patients in CARTITUDE-1 had received a median of 6 prior lines of therapy, and historical data from the LocoMMotion (NCT04035226) registry estimate median OS for such patients at just around 1 year. In contrast, cilta-cel therapy extended median OS to over 5 years—the longest median OS reported in any clinical trial for this high-risk group.

These findings reinforce cilta-cel's position as a transformative therapy in multiple myeloma, offering unprecedented long-term remission and survival in a population with limited options. As longer follow-up continues, the potential for durable, treatment-free remission has become a tangible, data-backed hope for patients and clinicians alike.

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.