Science Highlights
Published on October 01, 2026
Phase I Evaluation of Miv-Cel in RA
by Nature Medicine
Alback FN, Rehm MC, Hutter-Kronke ML, et al. CD19 CAR T Cell Therapy for Treatment-Refractory Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Phase I Trial. Nature Medicine. 2026; (doi: 10.1038/s41591-026-04603-3).
Additional study of mivocabtagene-autoleucel (miv-cel) is warranted for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on evidence demonstrating acceptable tolerability in the short term, investigators report. During Phase I of the Phase I/II COMPARE trial, six adults with severe, treatment-refractory RA discontinued their disease-modifying pharmaceutical therapies and underwent standard lymphodepletion before receiving a single infusion of miv-cel. Follow-up at 36-52 weeks showed that treatment with CD19-directed autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells effectively depleted CD19-positive B cells in blood and tissue, improving disease activity even in the absence of immunosuppressive therapy. Acceptable safety findings, including no evidence of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, no serious adverse effects, and only low-grade cytokine release syndrome, signaled readiness for the trial to move into Phase II testing.
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