Breaking Access Barriers to Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation and Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy in Hematologic Malignancies-an ASTCT-NMDP ACCESS Initiative.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and initiative commentary without empirical trial data or systematic meta-analysis.
PubMed 41663013 · doi:10.1016/j.jtct.2026.02.001
What was done
This collaborative review from the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and NMDP evaluates access barriers across patient, physician, product, and logistical domains for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy in aggressive hematologic malignancies, proposing multi-level mitigation strategies.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data. It qualitatively identifies that minority patients face reduced receipt rates and potentially poorer outcomes following ASCT, exacerbated by Medicaid and public insurance gaps and adverse social determinants of health. Additionally, delays and deficiencies in physician referrals to cellular therapy centers risk disease progression and missed therapeutic windows.
Why it matters
As cellular therapy indications expand, identifying ecosystem-level and program-level access barriers provides a roadmap for policy and institutional interventions to reduce healthcare disparities in potentially curative treatments.
Limits
The abstract contains no quantitative metrics, specific cohort sizes, or formal systematic review methodology. The practical efficacy and implementation feasibility of the proposed barrier-reduction strategies are not empirically measured.
Cited by
- supports Thousands of people die each year due to the lack of a suitable match or donor resource for bone marrow transplants.