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What is the survival rate of Kymriah?

Medically reviewed by Kristianne Hannemann, PharmD. Last updated on March 31, 2025.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) is a CAR T-cell therapy used to treat certain types of relapsed or refractory (r/r) blood cancers. Ongoing clinical studies continue to assess its long-term survival rates.

Currently, the available data shows the survival rate is 87.7% for patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma at 24 months after the Kymriah infusion, and 43.6% for patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The 5-year survival rate for patients with advanced B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia is 55%.

Survival Rates by Cancer Type

Children and young adults with advanced B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

The five-year overall survival rate in children and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory (r/r) B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is 55%. This means that 55% of patients treated with Kymriah were still alive after 5 years. This data is from the ELIANA clinical trial that included 79 patients.

Adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

According to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research CIBMTR, the 24-month overall survival rate was 43.6% out of 1159 patients receiving Kymriah for aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Another study reported a 12-month survival rate of 59%.

Adults with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma

In the ELARA study, the estimated 24-month progression-free survival was 57.4%. The overall survival was 87.7%. The ELARA study included 97 patients.

These findings highlight Kymriah’s potential benefits in various blood cancers, though research is ongoing to confirm long-term efficacy.

References

Awasthi, R., et. al. 2023. Kymriah® (tisagenlecleucel) – An overview of the clinical development journey of the first approved CAR-T therapy. In: Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2023.2210046

Dreyling, M., et. al. 2022. Long-Term Clinical Outcomes and Correlative Efficacy Analyses in Patients (Pts) with Relapsed/Refractory Follicular Lymphoma (r/r FL) Treated with Tisagenlecleucel in the Elara Trial. In: Blood. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1182/blood-2022-158024

Kymriah [package insert]. Updated June 2024. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Accessed August 2, 2024 at https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=aad3ba54-dfd3-4cb3-9e2b-c5ef89559189

Novartis. June 12, 2022. Novartis five-year Kymriah® data show durable remission and long-term survival maintained in children and young adults with advanced B-cell ALL. Accessed August 2, 2024 at https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-five-year-kymriah-data-show-durable-remission-and-long-term-survival-maintained-children-and-young-adults-advanced-b-cell-all

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