26 July 2022 - - The European Medicines Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has issued a positive opinion for Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel) for the treatment of adult patients 26 years of age and above with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, US-based biopharmaceutical company Kite, a Gilead Company (NASDAQ: GILD), said.

If approved, Tecartus will be the first and only Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy for this population of patients who have limited treatment options.

Half of adults with ALL will relapse, and median overall survival for this group is only approximately eight months with current standard-of-care treatments.

Following this positive opinion, the European Commission will now review the CHMP opinion; the final decision on the Marketing Authorization is expected in the coming months.

Results from the ZUMA-3 international multicenter, single-arm, open-label, registrational Phase 1/2 study of adult patients (≥18 years old) with relapsed or refractory ALL, demonstrated that 71% of the evaluable patients achieved complete remission or CR with incomplete hematological recovery with a median follow-up of 26.8 months.

In an extended data set of all patients dosed with the pivotal dose the median overall survival for all patients was more than two years (25.4 months) and almost four years (47 months) for responders (patients who achieved CR or CRi).

Among efficacy-evaluable patients, median duration of remission was 18.6 months. Among the patients treated with Tecartus at the target dose (n=100), Grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome and neurologic events occurred in 25% and 32% of patients, respectively, and were generally well-managed.

ZUMA-3 is an ongoing international multicenter (US, Canada, EU), single arm, open label, registrational Phase 1/2 study of Tecartus in adult patients (≥18 years old) with ALL whose disease is refractory to or has relapsed following standard systemic therapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The primary endpoint is the rate of overall complete remission or complete remission with incomplete hematological recovery by central assessment.

Duration of remission and relapse-free survival, overall survival, minimal residual disease negativity rate, and allo-SCT rate were assessed as secondary endpoints.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia is an aggressive type of blood cancer that develops when abnormal white blood cells accumulate in the bone marrow until there isn't any room left for blood cells to form.

In some cases, these abnormal cells invade healthy organs and can also involve the lymph nodes, spleen, liver, central nervous system and other organs.

The most common form is B cell precursor ALL. Globally, approximately 64,000 people are diagnosed with ALL each year, including around 3,300 people in Europe.

Kite, a Gilead company, is a global biopharmaceutical company based in Santa Monica, California, with manufacturing operations in North America and Europe. Kite's singular focus is cell therapy to treat and potentially cure cancer.

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The company is committed to advancing innovative medicines to prevent and treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV, viral hepatitis and cancer.

Gilead operates in more than 35 countries worldwide, with headquarters in Foster City, California.