Publications by authors named "Rakesh Awasthi"

Article Synopsis
  • * The trial included 97 patients who received tisagenlecleucel, with significant estimated 24-month rates for progression-free survival (57.4%), duration of response (66.4%), and overall survival (87.7%).
  • * Biomarker analysis indicated better outcomes correlated with low levels of exhausted T cells and higher levels of naïve T cells, confirming the treatment's durable efficacy and favorable safety profile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The rise of cell and gene therapies has revolutionized how we treat cancers and other diseases.
  • Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) is a type of personalized T-cell therapy approved for specific types of blood cancers in young patients.
  • The article outlines how tisagenlecleucel was developed, focusing on its effectiveness and safety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tisagenlecleucel is an autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy with clinically meaningful outcomes demonstrated in patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell lymphoma. In a previous pilot study of tisagenlecleucel in r/r follicular lymphoma (FL), 71% of patients achieved a complete response (CR). Here we report the primary, prespecified interim analysis of the ELARA phase 2 multinational trial of tisagenlecleucel in adults with r/r FL after two or more treatment lines or who relapsed after autologous stem cell transplant (no.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patient outcomes are poor for aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphomas not responding to or progressing within 12 months after first-line therapy. Tisagenlecleucel is an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy approved for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma after at least two treatment lines.

Methods: We conducted an international phase 3 trial involving patients with aggressive lymphoma that was refractory to or progressing within 12 months after first-line therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tisagenlecleucel is indicated for pediatric and young adult patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and adult patients with r/r diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The tisagenlecleucel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) contains a murine single-chain variable fragment domain; we examined the effects of humoral and cellular immune responses to tisagenlecleucel on clinical outcomes using 2 validated assays. Data were pooled from the ELIANA (registered at www.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a systemic inflammatory response associated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies. In severe cases, CRS can be associated with coagulopathy and hypofibrinogenemia. We present our global multicenter experience with CRS-associated coagulopathy after tisagenlecleucel therapy in 137 patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia from the ELIANA and ENSIGN trials.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy tisagenlecleucel was evaluated in the global, phase 2 JULIET study in adult patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We correlated tisagenlecleucel cellular kinetics with clinical/product parameters in 111 patients treated in JULIET. Tisagenlecleucel persistence in responders and nonresponders, respectively, was demonstrated for 554 and 400 days maximum by flow cytometry and for 693 and 374 days maximum by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tisagenlecleucel demonstrated high rates of durable responses in adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r DLBCL) in the JULIET trial. Most patients (92%) received bridging therapies to control disease after study entry and before tisagenlecleucel infusion. Here, we examine the efficacy and safety of tisagenlecleucel in the subset of 7 patients who achieved complete response (CR) after bridging therapy and before tisagenlecleucel infusion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tisagenlecleucel is a chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy that facilitates the killing of CD19 B cells. A model was developed for the kinetics of tisagenlecleucel and the impact of therapies for treating cytokine release syndrome (tocilizumab and corticosteroids) on expansion. Data from two phase II studies in pediatric and young adult relapsed/refractory B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia were pooled to evaluate this model and evaluate extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may impact the extent of tisagenlecleucel expansion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that is refractory to primary and second-line therapies or that has relapsed after stem-cell transplantation have a poor prognosis. The chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy tisagenlecleucel targets and eliminates CD19-expressing B cells and showed efficacy against B-cell lymphomas in a single-center, phase 2a study.

Methods: We conducted an international, phase 2, pivotal study of centrally manufactured tisagenlecleucel involving adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who were ineligible for or had disease progression after autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Tisagenlecleucel is an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR19) T-cell therapy approved for the treatment of children and young adults with relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).

Patients And Methods: We evaluated the cellular kinetics of tisagenlecleucel, the effect of patient factors, humoral immunogenicity, and manufacturing attributes on its kinetics, and exposure-response analysis for efficacy, safety and pharmacodynamic endpoints in 79 patients across two studies in pediatric B-ALL (ELIANA and ENSIGN).

Results: Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction to quantify levels of tisagenlecleucel transgene, responders ( = 62) had ≈2-fold higher tisagenlecleucel expansion in peripheral blood than nonresponders ( = 8; 74% and 104% higher geometric mean Cmax and AUC0-28d, respectively) with persistence measurable beyond 2 years in responding patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The medical use of marijuana is increasing, yet little is known about the exposure-response relationship for its psychoactive effects. It is well known that the plasma concentrations of the principal psychoactive component of marijuana, Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), do not directly correlate to the observed psychoactive effects. The purpose of this research was to use an effect-compartment modeling approach to predict and relate the concentrations of the psychoactive components (THC and its active metabolite) in the "hypothetical" effect-site compartment to the observed psychoactive effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tisagenlecleucel (CTL019) is an investigational immunotherapy that involves reprogramming a patient's own T cells with a transgene encoding a chimeric antigen receptor to identify and eliminate CD19-expressing cells. We previously reported that CTL019 achieved impressive clinical efficacy in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), including the expansion and persistence of CTL019 cells, which correlates with response to therapy. Here, we performed formal cellular kinetic analyses of CTL019 in a larger cohort of 103 patients treated with CTL019 in 2 different diseases (ALL and CLL).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Artemether is co-administered with lumefantrine as part of a fixed-dose combination therapy for malaria in both adult and pediatric patients. However, artemether exposure is higher in younger infants (1-3 months) with a lower body weight (<5 kg) as compared to older infants (3-6 months) with a higher body weight (≥5 to <10 kg), children, and adults. In contrast, lumefantrine exposure is similar in all age groups.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF