Anito-cel May Have Efficient Mechanism in R/R Multiple Myeloma Treatment

In a conversation with CancerNetwork^® at the 2025 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, Krina K. Patel, MD, MSc, discussed findings and implications from the phase 2 iMMagine-1 study (NCT05396885) assessing treatment with anitocabtagene autoleucel (anito-cel) among patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.¹ According to findings that Patel highlighted at the meeting, anito-cel produced an overall response rate of 96%, including a stringent complete response (CR) or CR rate of 74%, per independent review committee evaluation among 117 evaluable patients.²

Patel, an associate professor in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, stated that anito-cel is a smaller protein with a different scFv compared with other cellular therapies in the field, which may improve the overall efficiency of CAR T-cell infusion. She noted that fewer CAR T cells can be administered at a time compared with other products, and that anito-cel’s safety profile may show fewer instances of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and delayed toxicities.

Transcript:

CAR T-cell therapy is one of our most active immunotherapies in the sense that we take T cells out from our patients. They are autologous, and then we put a receptor in. We grow them, we give them back, these T cells go in, they find the myeloma, they kill [it], and then eventually, over time, they are removed from the body on [their] own.

Within the CAR T group, anito-cel, is the one CAR T that has a different scFv, or the part that attaches to the myeloma cell. It’s a D-domain, and because it’s a smaller protein, this increases how many CAR transductions [can occur], so how many CARs can go on that cell. It improves the efficiency of that, and so we can give [fewer] CAR T [cells] compared to other products with a lower cell number to be just as efficient. It also comes off the target faster, and we think that might lead to the toxicity profile [having] less CRS and less of the delayed toxicities.

References

1. Patel K, Dhakal B, Kaur G, et al. Phase 2 registrational study of anitocabtagene autoleucel for the treatment of patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma: updated results from iMMagine–1. Blood. 2025;146(suppl 1):256. doi:10.1182/blood-2025-256
2. Kite announces new data for pivotal iMMagine-1 study at ASH 2025, highlighting anito-cel’s opportunity in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. News release. Kite, a Gilead Company. December 6, 2025. Accessed December 9, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/4nreysw3