The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a cell-based gene therapy for multiple myeloma – the first therapy of its type for myeloma, an uncommon type of blood cancer. Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy targeting the B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), a cell membrane receptor expressed exclusively on late stage B cells and plasma cells. Abecma has been approved for adult patients who have not responded to, or whose disease has returned after, at least four prior lines of therapy.
