Comparative efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy versus historical treatment in patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive B-cell lymphomas

Single-arm studies demonstrate improvements in survival with CAR T-cell therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) aggressive B-cell lymphomas but with significant toxicities and at high costs. A retrospective study in Ontario, Canada, compared real-world outcomes of these patients who received CAR T-cell therapy between 2019 and 2023 (n=314) versus historical controls who received standard of care between 2013 and 2018 (n=106). IPTW was used to balance patients’ characteristisc across the two groups. The median follow-up was 29.6 months, and the median overall survival was 15.1 months (95% CI 11.1-26.3) for CAR T-cell treated patients versus 4.8 months (3.8-6.4) for historical controls (HR 0.50; 95% CI 0.38-0.65). The authors conclude that these results support the benefit of CAR T-cell therapy for patients with R/R aggressive B-cell lymphoma in routine clinical care.