VIDEO: Importance of caregiver support for patients with myeloma receiving CAR-T

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CAR T-cell therapy has been really a great treatment for our patients. And a lot of 'em, they're very savvy and they know that CAR T is really great and I'll be off treatment and let's do it. And by doing it earlier, we think that it could be safer and potentially more efficacious. So a lot of people are really excited about it and a lot of times they ask me, they tell me, "When are we doing CAR T?" They're very excited about it, which is a good thing.

Now, some of the challenges that we could face is the caregiver piece. Mostly just making sure that there's somebody taking care of the patient after they go home, their CAR T hospital stay, or even when we do with outpatient it's the same thing. So there's currently a requirement for a 24/7 caregiver support for these patients after they go home. And this is mostly to make sure that if they get any side effects at home, that there is someone present at all times that can help them kind of get to the hospital and call the care team and so forth. So that can be challenging for them, for some patients, we've been able, fortunately, to circumvent that, we can always find someone to help, but for some patients we have to dig a little bit more to kind of find people to help 'em at home.

Although something that really helps a lot of people is knowing that it does not have to be the same caregiver that should help them. So they know that as long as they have someone present at all times, that's actually okay. So it doesn't really have to be the same person, which helps a lot of that. Our social workers are really good here. They can help us with, help the patients with lodging, a lot of patients live far. They have to be present within a certain radius from the hospital so if they live far, we can get them lodging in town for the first few weeks after their treatment.

There is financial assistance from pharmaceutical companies that actually helps to, that can help with lodging and caregiver support and all of that. So the challenging piece is mostly caregiver support and being present close to the hospital during the first few weeks, but with our social workers, getting them, getting patients grants and financial assistance. And fortunately pharma has been also helpful in terms of providing financial assistance.