Barriers and solutions to improve access for chimeric antigen receptor therapies.

ABSTRACT

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells are a potentially curative new therapeutic option, but access challenges remain. The limited number of certified treatment centers and the need to travel to these centers, the expenses of travel and lodging and the out-of-pocket costs associated with treatment pose a challenge for patients. Further, the logistics of follow-up coupled with an ad hoc reimbursement environment make chimeric antigen receptor T-cell treatment an unattractive proposition for many providers. The patient-specific nature of these gene therapies has made scaling up production difficult for manufacturers. Providing expanded financial assistance for patients and education for community oncologists, and addressing reimbursement challenges, can alleviate some of these access barriers.

Chimeric antigen receptor T cells are a new type of cancer treatment where the cells from a patient's own blood are changed in the laboratory and injected back into the patient so they attack cancer cells. While these drugs offer a possible cure for some cancers, patients have had problems getting these treatments because there are not many approved treatment centers. Patients have to travel to these centers, and there can be high out-of-pocket costs for travel, a place to stay and the treatment itself. The paper discusses several ways to make it easier to get these treatments, such as helping patients pay for lodging and travel and changing insurance payment policies for chimeric antigen receptor T cell treatment.