The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Johnson & Johnson’s new therapy to treat a type of multiple myeloma, and the therapy has given another option of treatment to patients suffering with incurable blood cancer.
According to Johnson & Johnson, teclistamab therapy, which is branded as Tecvayli, is approved to treat adults with multiple myeloma, which is very difficult to cure and has also come back after receiving four or more lines of similar therapies.
A Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said the therapy that will be available on the market by November 4, 2022, will have a price list of 39,500 dollars per month, with the total price of the therapy ranging between 355,000 dollars and 395,000 dollars for a course of 9 to 10 months.
The therapy is a bispecific antibody that was developed to redirect the immune system of the body to recognize and kill cancer cells. The therapy is the first drug of its class to be approved for multiple myeloma cancer.
However, the US FDA approval comes with a warning for cytokine release syndrome, which is a condition when the immune system reacts more aggressively, and also neurologic toxicity. The European drug regulator has also given conditional approval for the therapy in August 2022.
