First CAR-T cell medicine for mantle cell lymphoma

October  16, 2020 – The EMA has recommended granting a conditional marketing authorisation in the EU for Tecartus (autologous anti-CD19-transduced CD3+ cells) for the treatment of adult patients with a rare cancer of white blood cells called mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) when the symptoms or the disease come back (relapse) or when they are not responding (refractory) after two or more lines of systemic therapy.

Tecartus is the third CAR (Chimeric antigen receptor)-T cell medicine to be recommended for approval in the EU. CAR-Ts are advanced therapies for cancer, they belong to a new generation of personalised cancer immunotherapies that are based on collecting and modifying patients’ own immune cells to treat their cancer.