The treatment, known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy uses a patient’s own immune system cells to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and B cell lymphomas. The Nicklaus Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center is an approved treatment facility to deliver the FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapy to the pediatric population.

 

“CAR T-cell therapy not only provides us with a more precise treatment option for children and adolescents with advanced types of cancers, but it also brings forth the opportunity for a tailored, less invasive, and perhaps less toxic treatment option to improve the quality of life for the patients in our care,” said Dr. Jorge Galvez Silva, director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.

 

The FDA-approved Kymriah, a Novartis product, is the first gene-modified therapy available in the United States for pediatric and young adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and B cell lymphomas.