Trending News Today: CAR-T Cell Therapy Triggers Relapse in Rare Case

A CAR-T cell therapy used to treat an aggressive form of leukemia backfired in a previously unknown way, resulting in the death of a patient, the New York Times reported. According to the article, a single leukemia cell got mixed in with the patient’s immune cells that were being engineered, causing it to acquire resistance to the treatment, which ultimately triggered a relapse. In a report published in Nature Medicine, the researchers said the case was a rare event but the treatment still warrants close monitoring and improvement of the manufacturing process, the article reported.

Eli Lilly announced that its experimental diabetes treatment was shown to be as effective as its Humalog medicine in 2 late-stage studies, Reuters reported. According to the article, the study also found that the drug, Ultra Rapid Lispro, significantly improved post-meal blood sugar levels in patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and had a similar safety profile as Humalog. Ultra Rapid Lispo is a mealtime insulin formulation being developed to help better control blood glucose levels after meals, the article reported.

A new study found that cancer treatments that prevent tumor growth may not lead to better quality of life for patients, Reuters reported. According to the article, the researchers analyzed 38 studies that included a total of 13,979 patients with 12 different cancer types and found that progression-free survival (PFS) was not linked with health-related quality of life. The researchers noted that, because PFS is measured in the short-term, it doesn’t necessarily predict longer life or better quality of life, the article reported.