Axicabtagene ciloleucel

Axicabtagene ciloleucel, sold under the brand name Yescarta, is a CAR T cell therapy rather than a conventional chemical drug. A patient's own T cells are collected, genetically engineered outside the body to display a receptor that recognizes the CD19 protein found on certain lymphoma cells, then multiplied and infused back into the same patient to hunt and destroy the cancer. Kite Pharma developed the therapy and the United States Food and Drug Administration first approved it in October 2017 for large B cell lymphoma that had failed standard treatment, covering diffuse large B cell lymphoma, transformed follicular lymphoma and primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma, then expanded the approval in April 2022 to earlier, second line use. It is given as a single intravenous infusion at a certified hospital because of serious risks including cytokine release syndrome and neurological toxicity, and in April 2024 the FDA added a boxed warning after some patients developed secondary T cell cancers.