I agree. It should be available earlier. Hopefully they will do clinical trials earlier in treatment to prove the advantages of having CAR t earlier💖

On April 5, 2024, the FDA approved the use of two CAR T cell therapies for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma earlier in the disease's course:
Carvykti (cilta-cel): Can be used after one previous line of therapy, including an immunomodulatory drug and a proteasome inhibitor
Abecma (ide-cel): Can be used after two or more prior lines of treatment

The FDA just approved CAR t for earlier in treatment

I have a friend that also has MM and she was diagnosed because of transfusion dependent anemia. The thing is, the anemia wasn't caused by tumor burden in the marrow, instead it was caused by a para-neoplastic auto-immune response to very early MM (MGUS). She had an ASCT and was essentially cured. She is 15 years post ASCT with no maintenance and no other treatment. We know the earlier MM is treated the better the outcome, yet the industry makes people like me wait until the disease takes our quality of life before treatment and leaving us needing treatment literally forever. Big Pharma is the only explanation