Blood
Promising CART T cancer therapy invented at Penn linked to rare, secondary cancers, FDA says
Nov
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The FDA is investigating an alarming finding on a promising cancer therapy invented at Penn Medicine. It’s being linked to rare, secondary cancers.
The agency said it received 19 reports of new blood cancers in patients who got the CAR T treatment.
Some outcomes included hospitalization and death.
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CAR T cell therapy was approved in 2017 and involves extracting disease-fighting T-cells from a patient. They are re-engineered to attack cancer and then infused back into the body.
The FDA says, for now, the overall benefits of the therapy still outweigh the risk.
Action News has reached out to Penn for a statement regarding the finding.
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