Baylor University Medical Center and Texas Oncology are the first in North Texas to offer one of the two FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapies. The specific treatment, known as Yescarta, is geared toward diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell therapy) is a cancer treatment in which a patient’s immune cells are removed from the body, genetically re-engineered, and then put back into the body so that they can attack the cancer. At BUMC, it will be used on adult patients who have not responded to other treatments or who have relapsed after two other kinds of treatment, Baylor Scott & White Health said in a release.
Baylor Scott & White—and others in the area—are currently engaged in clinical trials on forms of CAR-T that treat other types of cancer.
“This could be a game-changing treatment for patients whose cancer has not responded to other treatment options,” said Dr. Yair Levy, medical oncologist at Texas Oncology and medical director of hematologic malignancy clinical research at Baylor University Medical Center, in a statement. “It is an important advancement in cancer care to bring this next-generation treatment to North Texas that has shown promising results in treating patients with large B-cell lymphoma during both clinical trials and active treatments to date.”
