Is Blincyto (blinatumomab) chemotherapy?

Blincyto (blinatumomab) is used to treat cancer but it is not chemotherapy, Blincyto is a targeted therapy anticancer drug.

Drugs that are used to treat cancer are called anticancer drugs. Anticancer drugs can be divided to different groups:

• targeted therapy
• chemotherapy (chemo)
• hormonal drug therapy
• Immunotherapy

How does Blincyto work?

• Antibodies are a normal part of our immune system.
• Our body makes antibodies to match an antigen (eg germ or protein) that enters the body.
• Antibodies attach to the antigen to mark it so that the immune system knows to destroy it.
• Blincyto is an antibody that has been made to attach to target antigen on the cancer cell.
• It works by directing the part of the immune system called the T-cells to target and bind with the protein (CD19) on the surface of B-cell leukemia or lymphoma cells.

What is Blincyto used for?

Blincyto is used to treat adults and children 1 month and older with:

• B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in remission when only a small number of cancer cells remain in the body (minimal residual disease)
• B-cell precursor ALL that has come back or did not respond to previous treatments
• Philadelphia-chromosome negative B-cell precursor ALL in the consolidation phase of chemotherapy treatment with multiple phases