Risk of secondary cancers after CAR-T cell therapy low
A large study by researchers at Stanford Medicine has found that the risk of secondary blood cancers after CAR-T cell therapy — a cell-based cancer treatment that exploded on the scene in 2017 as a treatment for intractable blood cancers — is low, despite a Food and Drug Administration warning. In November 2023, the FDA issued a warning about a risk of secondary cancers — particularly blood cancers — that may be associated with CAR-T cell therapy. The warning was preceded by a rising tide of concern following reports of patients diagnosed with T cell cancers unrelated to the cancer for which they had been treated. However, the study of over 700 patients treated at Stanford Health Care indicated that the risk is low — around 6.5% in the three years after therapy. In the only case of fatal secondary…




