ASH: AstraZeneca’s dual-wielding CAR-T shows promise

Less than two years after buying Chinese biotech Gracell for its cell therapy platform, AstraZeneca has reported encouraging clinical results with the lead CAR-T from the deal, GC012F (now AZD0120), for multiple myeloma.

At this year’s ASH congress, the results of the phase 1b/2 DURGA-1 of AZD0120 – a dual BCMA and CD19-directed CAR-T therapy – gave the first view of activity in a Western population to complement earlier data drops in Chinese patients.

The open-label, single-arm study, carried out in US patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma – some of whom had been…