Meet Angelo
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ANGELO
My name’s Angelo. I am 69 years old and what I enjoy mostly is my family and riding my bike and skiing with my children and working on this house.
COURTNEY
Hi, my name is Courtney. I am 50 years old. I'm Angelo’s wife and I enjoy spending time with my family. I also love baking and crafting.
ANGELO
I’ve been living with multiple myeloma since 2008.
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ANGELO
I was playing volleyball, and I went to go lunge for the ball. And I landed on my backside. It was like a pain I’ve never felt before. And that’s when they discovered that I had multiple myeloma. It hit me hard at the first visit.
COURTNEY
When I learned of Angelo’s diagnosis, it was very scary. We didn’t know much about multiple myeloma. It was a matter of finding the different treatments and how to work on quantity as well as quality of life.
ANGELO
But I have 2 young children and that was my drive just to keep pushing, you know?
COURTNEY
Angelo set out on a course of various chemotherapy regimens. Some of them were given by IV. Many of them were given orally, but he went through different combination therapies.
COURTNEY
As a caregiver and, you know, the spouse of someone who’s going through cancer treatment, you’re constantly riding this roller coaster. And it’s not just the impact that it has on Angelo and the patient, but the impact it has on the family as well. When a treatment therapy would not work for Angelo or when it would stop working the way they wanted it to, they would re-instill this hope and reignite that hope in us.
ANGELO
The doctor at that point mentioned CAR T.
COURTNEY
Prior to the CAR T cell therapy we had a session with Angelo’s medical team, and they took us through what the whole CAR T process would be from start to finish.
ANGELO
I was all in. I was ready for it. I knew there were success stories and I guess I wanted to hope that I could be one of their success stories.
COURTNEY
When the doctors mentioned to us about specifically ABECMA, we continued to talk about it. They said, we're going to refer you to the team that would perform the CAR T cell therapy. I felt very positive about it, because they felt very positive about it.
ANGELO
Weeks later, the doctors called me and said, you're ready to go. I was ready to receive CAR T.
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[Music & VO]
ABECMA also known as idecabtagene vicleucel is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM), when: you have tried two or more kinds of treatments that have not worked or have stopped working, and you have received at least one therapy from each of these drug classes: an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, an anti-CD38 antibody. WARNING: RISK OF SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS ABECMA may cause side effects that are life-threatening and can lead to death, including risk of cytokine release syndrome, also called CRS, neurologic toxicity, infections, low blood cell counts, also called cytopenia, and certain types of blood cancers. Call your healthcare provider or get emergency help right away if you experience any of the following symptoms: trouble breathing, fever, 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius or higher, chills or shivering, confusion, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, shaking or twitching (tremor), fast or irregular heartbeat, feeling severely tired or weak, severe nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Because of the risk of serious side effects, your healthcare provider will give you an ABECMA Patient Wallet Card that describes symptoms to look out for that require emergency medical care right away. It's important that you tell your healthcare providers that you have received ABECMA and to show them your ABECMA Patient Wallet Card. Your healthcare provider may give you other medicines to treat your side effects. See additional Important Safety Information at the end of this video, and full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide at ABECMA.com
COURTNEY
We had to relocate for approximately 6 weeks. So, there was a lot of preparation that had to go into the logistics and making sure that you had the support for family that might remain home, if your kids were staying at home that you had everything taken care of.
ANGELO
The first step was the collection of my T cells. After that, my T cells were sent into manufacturing, where they were turned into CAR T cells. I received some pre-infusion therapy to prepare my body for the CAR T. Then was the big day. My infusion of the CAR T cells. I was just amazed at the technology, that these little things can go back in you and fight your cancer. I was required to stay at the certified treatment center for 7 days for monitoring any side effects that may occur. I had one side effect after the treatment. That night I had the chills and a low-grade fever. They gave me medication. For weeks following the treatment I was required to stay within 2 hours of the treatment center. The only thing I'm going through now is going every 3 months to the lab just to make sure everything’s looking good.
ANGELO
After ABECMA I felt more myself, just doing the things with my kids that I always loved to do prior to that. I felt great. We have gone on ski trips with our kids, we’ve been out west and just enjoying every minute of it. The summer times I look forward to riding my bike. I was always mechanically inclined from a very young age, and I never felt that it was a challenge. But I like to say that I did this myself. I built this on my own.
ANGELO
What’s a good day for me? You know, I can think about a lot of things that could be a good day for me: riding my bike, being with my family, being on a ski slope. But what a good day for me is every day. There’s no one day. It’s every day.
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VO
ABECMA, also known as idecabtagene vicleucel, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM), when: you have tried two or more kinds of treatments that have not worked or have stopped working, and you have received at least one therapy from each of these drug classes: an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor, an anti-CD38 antibody.
WARNING: RISK OF SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS
ABECMA may cause side effects that are life-threatening and can lead to death, including risk of cytokine release syndrome, also called CRS, neurologic toxicity, infections, low blood cell counts, also called cytopenia, and certain types of blood cancers.
Call your healthcare provider or get emergency help right away if you experience any of the following symptoms: trouble breathing, fever (100.4°F or 38°C or higher), chills or shivering, confusion, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, shaking or twitching (tremor), fast or irregular heartbeat, feeling severely tired or weak, severe nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Because of the risk of serious side effects, your healthcare provider will give you an ABECMA Patient Wallet Card that describes symptoms to look out for that require emergency medical care right away. It's important that you tell your healthcare providers that you have received ABECMA and to show them your ABECMA Patient Wallet Card. Your healthcare provider may give you other medicines to treat your side effects.
How will I receive ABECMA?
ABECMA is a CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy. It is a prescription medicine made using your own white blood cells. These white blood cells have been changed (genetically modified) to find and attack your multiple myeloma cells. ABECMA is given as an intravenous (IV) infusion.
Before receiving your ABECMA infusion: Your blood cells will be collected by a process called leukapheresis, sometimes called apheresis.
Your blood cells will be sent to a manufacturing site to make your ABECMA. Based on clinical trial experience, your ABECMA will be ready to be shipped back to your healthcare provider about 4 weeks after your cells are received at the manufacturing site, but the time may vary. Your healthcare provider will give you 3 days of chemotherapy to prepare your body before receiving your ABECMA treatment.
On the day of your ABECMA infusion: you will receive ABECMA through a tube (catheter) placed into your vein (intravenous infusion). Your dose of ABECMA may be given in one or more infusion bags. Each infusion bag usually takes up to 30 minutes.
After receiving your ABECMA infusion: For at least 1 week (7 days) after receiving ABECMA, you will stay at the facility where you received your treatment and be monitored daily. For 2 weeks after receiving ABECMA, you should plan to stay close (within 2 hours) to the facility where you received your treatment. During this time, your healthcare provider will check to see that your treatment is working and help you with any side effects that may occur.
What should I avoid after receiving ABECMA?
Do not drive for at least 2 weeks after you get ABECMA. Do not donate blood, organs, tissues, or cells for transplantation.
What are the possible or reasonably likely side effects of ABECMA?
Serious side effects. ABECMA can increase the risk of serious side effects. A serious side effect is a side effect that is severe or life-threatening and can lead to death. The serious side effects of ABECMA include, but are not limited to:
Early deaths. In a clinical study comparing ABECMA to standard treatments, a higher proportion of people died in the first 9 months from when they were assigned to receive ABECMA compared to people assigned to receive standard treatments. The higher rate of early death was seen before people received ABECMA, and the main reason was that their multiple myeloma had gotten worse. There was also an increase in the rate of death from side effects after receiving ABECMA.
Cytokine release syndrome, also called CRS. ABECMA can increase the risk of CRS, a very common side effect which can be severe or fatal. CRS happens when the immune system responds to an infection or a drug more aggressively than it should. Symptoms to look out for include: fever (100.4°F/38°C or higher), trouble breathing, dizziness or lightheadedness, nausea, headache, fast heartbeat, low blood pressure, feeling tired or weak.
Infections. ABECMA can increase the risk of life-threatening infections that may lead to death. Symptoms to look out for include: fever (100.4°F/38°C or higher), chills, any other signs or symptoms of an infection.
Low blood cell counts, also known as cytopenia. ABECMA can lower the number of one or more types of your blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets), which may make you feel weak or tired, and could increase your risk of severe infection or bleeding. After treatment, your healthcare provider will test your blood to check for this. Symptoms to look out for include: fever (100.4°F/38°C or higher), feeling weak or tired, bruising, bleeding.
Other (secondary) blood cancers. ABECMA may increase your risk of getting certain types of cancers, including certain types of blood cancers. You may hear your healthcare provider call these “secondary hematological malignancies.” Your healthcare provider should monitor you for any signs of secondary cancers.
ABECMA may cause a false-positive HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) test result by some commercial tests.
Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms after receiving ABECMA. Remember to bring and show your ABECMA Patient Wallet Card to any healthcare provider who treats you.
Most common side effects
The most common side effects of ABECMA include: feeling tired or weak, fever (100.4°F/38°C or higher), chills or shivering, severe nausea or diarrhea, decreased appetite, headache, dizziness or lightheadedness, confusion, trouble speaking or slurred speech, cough, trouble breathing, fast or irregular heartbeat.
These are not all the possible side effects of ABECMA.
Talk to your healthcare team for medical advice about side effects. You are encouraged to report side effects to Bristol Myers Squibb at ABECMA.com or by calling 1-888-805-4555, or to the FDA by calling 1-800-FDA-1088.
For more information, please see the U.S. Full Prescribing Information, including Boxed WARNINGS, and Medication Guide for ABECMA at ABECMA.com. Talk to your healthcare provider for more information about this medication.
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