How is Kymriah administered?

Kymriah is administered as a suspension through a tube (intravenous catheter) into your vein. This single-dose infusion usually takes less than one hour.

Kymriah is only given to you at a certified healthcare facility. You can see a list of treatment centers here.

Once you receive Kymriah, you should plan to stay within 2 hours of the location where you received treatment for at least 4 weeks. Your healthcare providers will check on you frequently to monitor how well your treatment is working and for possible side effects.

Before you receive Kymriah, you may have chemotherapy for a few days to help prepare your body to receive the treatment.

What did the FDA approve Kymriah for?

• Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) is a chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy used in pediatric and young adult patients (up to age 25) with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that has come back or did not respond to initial treatments (called relapsed or refractory).
• It is also approved in adults to treat relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, after having at least two other kinds of treatment.
• In May 2022, the FDA approved Kymriah for adults with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma (FL).
• ALL, DLBCL and FL are all types of blood cancers.

Related questions

• What is the survival rate of Kymriah?
• What's the difference between Kymriah and Yescarta?
• What is the cost of Kymriah?

How is Kymriah made?

Kymriah is made from your own white blood cells in a process called leukapheresis.

• A tube (intravenous catheter) is placed in your vein to collect white blood cells from the blood. Leukapheresis takes 3 to 6 hours and may need to be repeated.
• The blood cells are frozen and sent to the manufacturing site to make tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah).
• It takes roughly 3 to 4 weeks to make Kymriah, but this time can vary. Once the medicine is made, it is shipped back to your healthcare provider.

This is not all the information you need to know about Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) for safe and effective use and does not take the place of talking to your doctor about your treatment. Review the full Kymriah information here, and discuss this information and any questions you have with your doctor or other health care provider.