Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (Car-T) therapies are transformative therapeutics that are highly effective in treating relapsed and refractory B cell malignancies. Car-T products directed against CD19 are now approved internationally for B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Aggressive lymphoma (DLBCL, PMBL, tFL), mantle cell lymphoma and most recently follicular lymphoma, with emerging B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) directed therapies for multiple myeloma in late stage development. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has been an international leader in the development of cellular therapies for 20yrs and in 2019 was designated as a Centre of Excellence for Cellular Immunotherapies. I will review some of the data supporting the approval of Car-T therapies in haematologic malignancies and the management of the specific toxicities associated with Car-T therapies, cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). I will also outline our approach to the roll out of these products in the standard-of-care setting in Australia and the development of local manufacturing capacity.
