An Introduction to CAR-T Therapy—Plus How Employers Can Provide It for Their Employees

patient getting car-t therapy

Oncology is one of the fastest-growing areas of healthcare—both in spending and in research. That means our understanding of cancer and how to treat it is rapidly evolving, and the field of oncology has experienced many medical breakthroughs.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T therapy) is one of those breakthroughs. But what is this treatment? How does it work? And, most importantly, how can you help your employees access it?

What is CAR-T therapy?

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (commonly referred to as CAR-T therapy) is a treatment used to treat several types of blood cancers.

CAR-T therapy is a type of immunotherapy. Unlike chemotherapy, which administers patients drugs that attack the cancer itself, immunotherapy treatments support the body’s immune system so it can better detect and attack cancer cells.

CAR-T therapy is still relatively new to the medical field. Researched and developed at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, the first clinical trial occurred in 2010. With promising results, the first treatment was approved by the FDA in 2017.

Since then, a total of six CAR-T therapies have been approved by the FDA, all of which treat blood cancers including:

  • Lymphomas
  • Some forms of leukemia
  • Multiple myeloma

Now, more than 30,000 patients have been treated with CAR-T therapy and many early patients of clinical trials have experienced long-lasting remissions.

How does CAR-T therapy work?

CAR-T therapy is what’s known as a “living drug,” meaning it consists of fully functional cells. Its aim is to get the body’s immune system up and running so that it can fight cancer—and it does that by focusing specifically on the body’s T cells.

T cells are a type of white blood cell (also called lymphocytes) that help the body fight different germs and diseases. CAR-T therapy amps up these T cells in cancer patients so that their immune system is better equipped to fight off the cancer in their bodies.

This begins by collecting a patient’s T cells through an IV line. As the blood is collected, a machine pulls out the T cells and returns the rest of the blood to the patient’s body. The T cells are taken to a lab, where they’re re-engineered to produce specific proteins on their surface.

These proteins are called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and they’re able to recognize a specific protein on the surface of cancer cells. When CARs recognize cancer cells in the body, they bind to them and kill them.

The revamped T cells are multiplied in the lab and then infused back into the patient where they continue to multiply in the body and attack cancer cells.

What are the benefits of CAR-T therapy?

CAR-T therapy has rapidly expanded over the past few decades and for good reason: it’s effective. Several studies have shown higher remission rates for CAR-T when compared with other common cancer treatments:

  • Four-year survival in patients with large B-cell lymphoma was 46% with standard chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplant, but 54.6% with CAR-T cells
  • Complete remission (CR) rate was 37.9% in a chemotherapy group, but 90.9% in a CAR-T group

Additionally, CAR-T therapy can be easier on the patient, especially when it comes to the length and duration of treatment and recovery. It requires only a single infusion lasting several hours with, at most, a few weeks of inpatient care. And, while CAR-T therapy can have serious and complex side effects, such as severe immune responses and neurotoxicities (which mean patients can’t drive a car for two months after treatment), it has also demonstrated more rapid recovery time and shorter hospital stays than stem cell transplants.

The costs of CAR-T therapy

There’s no denying that CAR-T therapy sounds promising for treating specific blood cancers. But, if that’s the case, why isn’t it everywhere?

These cells are complex to produce and they’re also specific to each patient. There’s no mass production of this treatment since it requires material from the individual patient. And that means CAR-T therapy is expensive.

CAR-T therapy can cost between $373,000 and $475,000 per infusion. Most patients only need a single T cell infusion, but when you add in other relevant procedures, the assessment, hospital stays, and the management of side effects, some experts predict CAR-T therapy could exceed a cost of $1 million per patient—making price one of the largest barriers for people who could benefit from this treatment.

In addition, this type of cancer treatment is rarer than other types, meaning travel is often required for patients pursuing CAR-T therapy—and not only do patients have to travel to and from the facility, but they have to remain within driving distance of the cancer center for up to 30 days, meaning the patient and caregiver need to find a way to pay for a month’s worth of lodging. Historically, getting coverage for this type of care (including the travel) from a traditional health plan has been difficult, with patients having to navigate an especially strenuous prior authorization process.

How Carrum Health can help

If one of your employees has a type of blood cancer that could respond to CAR-T therapy, the price tag shouldn’t be what stands in their way of access to this effective cancer treatment.

Carrum Health partners with some of the highest quality cancer centers in the nation and is the only centers of excellence (COE) program to provide value-based treatment—not just referrals. CAR-T therapy is one of those treatments, which means your employees can access this option that’s otherwise cost-prohibitive and unavailable.

Carrum Health has a CAR-T bundle that offers this treatment at a lower cost than you and your employees would get elsewhere. Your employees pay little to nothing—and, as an employer, you’ll know the complete price upfront.

With Carrum, you won’t have to make guesses or wait for invoices. Plus, unlike with traditional insurance, employees don’t have to jump through prior authorizations to get care, meaning their care experience is better and they can get on the path toward better health much more quickly.

When cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, any treatment that breaks new ground and offers promising results is a welcomed and celebrated discovery. But cancer care is notoriously expensive and medical breakthroughs typically come with a hefty price tag. Fortunately, there are options available (like Carrum Health) that can connect your employees with the innovative, high-quality care they deserve—without added financial strain.

Learn more about Carrum’s first-of-its-kind value-based Cancer Care program.

The information contained on this page is for informational purposes only. No material is intended to be a substitute for professional legal or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.