Green light for a new treatment against leukemia, its initial results are impressive
A significant step in the fight against leukemia? These blood cancers affect approximately 10,000 people in France each year. While treatments exist—chemotherapy, stem cell transplants, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy—the discovery of new therapeutic methods remains a major challenge for improving patient survival.
A new treatment could be a game-changer. It has just been given the green light by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Called Aucatzyl, it is intended for patients with a form of blood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "Despite the many available treatment options, this disease is associated with high mortality and a low survival rate," the EMA points out.
The treatment has indeed shown very promising results in a clinical trial. Of the 113 patients in the study, almost half "experienced a complete response, meaning that the signs of the cancer disappeared," according to the EMA. The European Agency also specifies that "64% of patients achieved a sustained response (period without signs or symptoms of the disease after treatment), with a median duration of 14 months."
The recommendation only applies to patients over 26 years of age who have a relapsed or refractory form of the disease. The treatment will therefore not be offered as a first-line treatment. Aucatzyl is a "personalized immunotherapy that relies on collecting and modifying the patient's own immune cells to treat their cancer. The modified cells attach to cancer cells and kill them, helping to eliminate the cancer from the body," the EMA specifies.
Given these promising results and the need for new treatments, the EMA has therefore "recommended approval of this drug." Before it can be made available to patients in Europe, the treatment will first need to be authorized by the European Commission, the final step before member states can then set their prices and reimbursements.
L'Internaute
