Christopher Ferreri, MD

The faculty define holding and bridging therapy, discuss how they coordinate it with the referring practice, and walk through the timeline.

A panelist describes how the treating center, local oncologist, patient, and caregivers share responsibility for monitoring after CAR T-cell therapy, including warning symptoms, immune monitoring, and infection prevention.

One panelist describes the consent conversation with patients and caregivers, including how the treatment works, what to expect from outcomes, the practical process, and side effects such as cytokine release syndrome, ICANS, cranial nerve palsy, colitis, and movement disorders.

The faculty discuss a recent exchange in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology on the role of CAR T-cell therapy and where it fits in the treatment sequence, including concerns about toxicity and how recognition and management of these toxicities have evolved.

The moderator reviews a guideline recommendation on CAR T-cell therapy and T-cell engagers at first relapse, and one panelist describes how it compares with their practice, including the rationale for sequencing and the questions that remain open.

Panelists discuss which patients at first relapse make them think of CAR T-cell therapy and which make them pause, including disease burden and the role of holding and bridging therapy, age and fitness, kidney function, and caregiver availability.

The faculty consider how they would answer a patient who is 5 years out from a single infusion in sustained MRD-negative remission and asks whether they are cured.

The faculty consider what level of follow-up they consider meaningful for a one-time therapy, pointing to the International Myeloma Working Group consensus benchmark of sustained minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity with imaging negativity.

The program opens with panelist introductions and an overview of ciltacabtagene autoleucel (ciltacel), a BCMA-directed autologous CAR T-cell therapy given as a single infusion and approved for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least 1 prior line of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, and are refractory to lenalidomide.