The Regional University Hospital of Málaga has acquired two CAR-T therapy medications for over 435,000 euros to treat two patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia without effective therapeutic alternatives.
The Regional University Hospital of Málaga has incorporated two CAR-T therapy medications to treat two patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who do not have other therapeutic alternatives with a reasonable level of efficacy. The acquisition, for an amount exceeding 435,000 euros, was announced this Tuesday by the Governing Council of the Junta de Andalucía, according to Diario Sur.
One of the drugs is ARI-0001, an advanced therapy medication of non-industrial manufacture authorized by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Health Products for a patient with high-risk ALL. It is a fusion of cellular therapy, immunotherapy, and gene therapy, designed as a living personalized medicine from the patient's own immune cells.
The second is Tisagenlecleucel (commercially Kymriah), intended for a paediatric patient. This advanced gene and cell immunotherapy is manufactured individually: white blood cells are extracted from the patient in the hospital's Apheresis Department, sent to a specialized center where they are genetically modified to recognize and destroy cancer cells, and the resulting medication is returned to the center for administration via infusion.
CAR-T therapies involve extracting lymphocytes from the patient, genetically modifying them to recognize the tumor, and then reinjecting them to attack the disease. The Málaga hospital has been performing this type of treatment since June 2023 and had already reached nearly fifty patients a year ago.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a blood and bone marrow cancer that affects lymphoblasts, immature cells that should develop into lymphocytes. Although it predominates in children, where it accounts for eight out of ten pediatric leukemias, it also appears in adolescents and young adults. In adults, it primarily affects males between the ages of 25 and 30, and only 10-15% of patients are over 50 years old.
According to data from the Josep Carreras Foundation, around 1,400 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia are diagnosed each year in Spain, with an annual incidence in adults of 30 new cases per million inhabitants.
The use of these two medications shows that, although both are based on immune system cells, they are not a single drug or an identical procedure, but different therapies tailored to the characteristics and needs of each patient.
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