CAR T-Cell Therapy Cuts Costs and Improves Treatment-Free Intervals

A real-world study published in Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy comparing treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and costs in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma (R/R MCL) found that chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR) T-cell therapy was associated with improved treatment durability and reduced financial burden compared with non-CAR T standard-of-care (SOC) treatments.

The study analyzed data from Medicare and commercial insurance claims, including 2957 patients with R/R MCL, of whom 122 received CAR T-cell therapy. Compared with those treated with non-CAR T therapies, patients who received CAR T were younger (median age 69 vs 74; P

Health care costs also favored CAR T therapy. Standardized medical and pharmacy costs per patient per month (PPPM) were significantly lower for patients post-CAR T compared with those receiving non-CAR T therapies in second-line or later settings. Medical costs were 7.0% to 46.0% lower for CAR T patients, while pharmacy costs were reduced by 56.9% to 88.1%. Additionally, CAR T therapy was associated with a substantial reduction in health care resource utilization (HRU), including inpatient admissions and emergency department visits, compared with non-CAR T treatments.

These results highlight the potential of CAR T therapy to improve long-term clinical outcomes while mitigating the economic burden of repeated treatments for R/R MCL. Earlier adoption of CAR T could reduce reliance on successive non-CAR T regimens, which are associated with increasing costs and shorter treatment durations. As more long-term data become available, further research will be needed to assess the durability of these benefits and their cost-effectiveness over time.

“In this study, non–CAR T–treated patients experienced rising HRU and costs throughout subsequent LOTs, whereas CAR T therapy was associated with relatively low HRU and costs after treatment and reduced burden of care with longer duration of clinical benefit,” the researchers concluded.

Reference

Kilgore KM, Chan PK, Teigland C, Wade SW, Mohammadi I. Treatment patterns, health care resource utilization, and costs of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell vs standard therapy for relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma in the United States. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2025;31(3):262-276. doi:10.18553/jmcp.2025.31.3.262