Ciltacabtagene autoleucel
CarvyktiRCSB PDB 8HXQ · 3D model
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Reprograms a patient's own immune cells, using a llama-derived, dual-pronged targeting piece, to hunt down and destroy myeloma cells carrying the BCMA marker.
How it works
Ciltacabtagene autoleucel is made from a patient's own immune cells. Doctors collect T cells from the patient's blood, then re-engineer them in a lab to carry a new receptor that recognizes a marker called BCMA, found on myeloma cells. What makes this CAR-T notably different from earlier ones: its targeting piece is built from two small antibody fragments originally derived from llamas, arranged to grab onto two separate spots on the BCMA marker at once, for a firmer grip than a single-fragment design. After the cells are grown into large numbers, the patient receives a short course of chemotherapy to make room for the new cells, and the engineered T cells are infused back in to seek out and destroy myeloma cells.
What it’s used for
Carvykti is approved for adults with multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, that has come back or stopped responding to treatment. Patients must have already tried at least one other type of myeloma therapy and no longer be responding to a common drug called lenalidomide. It was first approved in 2022 for patients who had already tried many other treatments; in 2024, the approval was expanded so it can now be used earlier, after just one prior treatment.
- Mechanism
- Autologous anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy
- Drug class
- CAR-T cell therapy
- Therapeutic area
- Oncology (multiple myeloma)