Seoul St. Mary's Hospital Hematology Center Achieves Success with Pediatric Leukemia CAR-T Therapy 'Kymriah'

Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia relapse high-risk pediatric patients
Extraction of T cells from patient blood... personalized therapy targeting cancer cells
Expanded coverage reduces treatment costs, new hope for refractory, resistant, and relapsed blood cancer patients

Professor Kim Sung-gu is explaining the blood test results to a pediatric patient who recovered through Kimria treatment and had their first outpatient visit after discharge on the 7th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center at the Blood Hospital of Catholic University Seoul St. Mary's Hospital announced on the 11th that it successfully treated a patient with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia using the CAR-T therapy drug 'Kymriah'.

Jung (8 years old) was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in October 2019 and underwent chemotherapy. In March 2020, he received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant from his sibling. After blood tests confirmed complete remission with no leukemia cells detected, he was discharged and returned to daily life. However, on April 18 of this year, the same disease relapsed.

Since the patient had already undergone chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation but relapsed, the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center decided after careful consideration to use the recently introduced CAR-T therapy. On May 10, T cells were extracted from the patient's blood, and customized therapeutic cells were engineered to produce 'Kymriah', which was administered on the 14th of last month. While monitoring the patient's health during hospitalization, a bone marrow test confirmed complete remission as the condition stabilized, and he was discharged on the 1st of this month. At a follow-up visit on the 7th, blood tests confirmed that the patient had reached the highest state of complete remission with a negative Philadelphia chromosome result.

Professor Kim Sung-gu, Jung’s attending physician, said, “Pediatric leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer, and patients undergo long battles with the disease through chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We hope this success brings new hope to many patients for whom existing treatments were insufficient to restore health.”

CAR-T therapy is an advanced biopharmaceutical that has demonstrated high efficacy in patients who did not respond to conventional chemotherapy. It is a cutting-edge personalized immunotherapy that enhances the tumor-killing ability of T immune cells by binding them to a protein called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), enabling more powerful destruction of tumor cells. It selectively and strongly attacks only cancer cells, making it a revolutionary treatment for patients with refractory hematologic cancers.

Kymriah has been confirmed to produce dramatic effects even with a single administration. T cells are extracted from the patient’s blood, frozen, and sent to the United States to manufacture a patient-specific therapeutic agent, which is then used for treatment back in Korea. Because this therapy uses human cells, medical institutions must have a cell processing facility with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification, an essential requirement for cell therapy, to prescribe CAR-T treatments, imposing strict standards.

The main issue has been the astronomical cost. Kymriah’s non-reimbursed single treatment cost was about 400 million KRW, but since April this year, with National Health Insurance coverage, the patient’s out-of-pocket expense has been significantly reduced to 5.98 million KRW.

Professor Lee Jae-wook, head of the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center, said, “This success is thanks to Seoul St. Mary’s Blood Hospital’s systematic treatment system that ensures the safe application of new therapies. We will continue to expand the number of eligible patients and carefully manage long-term complications that may arise after new treatments at the center level.” Currently, it is known that 19 patients at Seoul St. Mary’s Blood Hospital are preparing for CAR-T therapy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.