Tandem 2026 highlights CAR-T, transplant and supportive-care advances

The 2026 Tandem Meetings highlighted advances in transplantation and cellular therapies presented February 4 to 7, 2026, in Salt Lake City. Researchers and clinicians shared updates in leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, and amyloid light-chain amyloidosis, including clinical trial results, registry analyses, and comparative safety data.

Among the late-breaking data, EB-103 produced a 100% overall response rate and 100% complete response rate in evaluable patients at the recommended dose level, alongside exclusively grade 1/2 cytokine release syndrome. Across the broader evaluable cohort, all patients achieving complete response remained in remission at data cutoff, with durations extending out to more than a year in some cases. The enrolled population had a median age of 67 years, with a meaningful subset aged 75 years or older, and manufacturing was successful for all patients who underwent apheresis.

In a phase 1 study, KITE-753 achieved an 86% overall response rate and 79% complete response rate in CAR-naive patients treated at the recommended dose, with no grade 3 or higher cytokine release syndrome and no grade 3 or higher immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome events in reported cohorts. All complete responders remained in complete response at month 3, the median time to first response was 29 days, and the median leukapheresis-to-delivery timeline was 13 days.

A phase 1 trial of Orca-T in high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia yielded disease-free survival and overall survival in all 18 evaluable patients after a median follow-up of 14 months, without graft failure, significant graft-versus-host-disease, or severe CAR-mediated toxicity.

Investigators also reported that lisocabtagene maraleucel may have a more favorable cardiovascular safety profile in older patients with heart disease than tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel in large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma. The CARTiAC study found a lower risk of cardiovascular events by day 30 with lisocabtagene maraleucel compared with axicabtagene ciloleucel (odds ratio 0.29, 95% CI 0.08-0.74; p<0.001), while tisagenlecleucel and axicabtagene ciloleucel were statistically comparable (odds ratio 1.67; p=0.07). Most of the 874 adults were treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel, and two-thirds had at least one cardiovascular risk factor.

An experimental BCMA-targeted CAR T-cell therapy, NXC-201, was reported to be given safely and result in rapid and deep hematologic responses in all treated patients with relapsed or refractory AL amyloidosis. Of 23 patients previously treated with bortezomib and an anti-CD38 antibody, 21 achieved a complete or very good partial response, and five patients with more than one year of follow-up remained in complete response. Organ responses included cardiac improvement in three patients, a renal response in two, and a liver response in one; grade 1 or 2 cytokine release syndrome occurred in 18 patients with a median duration of one day, no grade 4 or higher toxicities were reported, and one death 6 months after treatment due to a dialysis catheter infection was deemed unrelated to the study drug.

Registry data on allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation showed that patients receiving allo-HCT for myelodysplastic syndrome or myeloproliferative neoplasms were typically older with worse performance statuses, and MDS/MPN independently predicted worse overall survival and relapse-free survival outcomes.

Data on lisocabtagene maraleucel in younger patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma showed that among patients younger than 50 years old, the therapy produced enduring responses across real-world and clinical trial settings that were comparable to outcomes in overall populations.

The meetings also included research to determine a safe and effective dose of melphalan for older patients with multiple myeloma before autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and supportive-care work focused on a needs-assessment and navigation program for patients undergoing transplant.