STAT+: Companies can’t make CAR-T cells for cancer treatment quickly enough. Here’s what they’re doing about it

“We burn through more vector than during the clinical trials. That drove the increase in need of vector at the same time when Covid hit. The same vector is being…

The shortage of manufacturing slots for CAR-T cells, which has left myeloma patients dying on a waitlist, came as a surprise to drugmakers and clinicians alike.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved the first myeloma CAR-T product from Bristol Myers Squibb in spring of 2021, there were already four other lymphoma and leukemia CAR-T therapies on the market. Those weren’t facing severe supply constraints so people hadn’t expected there to be issues supplying ide-cel, Bristol’s myeloma CAR-T, said Yi Lin, the director of the cell therapy program at the Mayo Clinic. But after the approval, the demand quickly overwhelmed Bristol’s ability to create CAR-T for myeloma — and supply chain issues during the pandemic made it more difficult to ramp up production.

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