This debut video episode of the In Vivo podcast examines the successes and pitfalls of the commercial launch of Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), Kite Pharma’s CAR-T therapy for relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma. David Wild, senior reporter at In Vivo, is joined by Harris Kaplan, who consulted on the launch and conducted interviews with physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators before and after it, and is managing partner of Litmys, a life sciences commercial strategy consulting firm; Diane Parks, who led the Yescarta launch for Kite; and Jim Haag, a patient who received CAR-T therapy. It&#x27;s a candid, unfiltered look at the gap between what innovation promises and what the healthcare system actually delivers. Here are some of Harris Kaplan’s contributed articles for In Vivo: Commercialization 3.0: Achieving New Product Success In Health Care’s New Era Commercialization 3.0: Recognizing And Managing The Human Side Of Change Physician Behavioral Inertia: Innovation’s Greatest Enemy

The Yescarta Launch Examined

Citeline Podcasts

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Citeline Podcasts

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_A] Hello and welcome to the In Vivo podcast. I'm David Wild, senior reporter at Sightlines In Vivo, where we cover the business and strategy of the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Today we're doing something a little different. Rather than talking about a drug in development or a deal that just closed, we're going back to a launch. One of the most celebrated and closely watched launches in recent memory, and asking an uncomfortable question: Why didn't it go the way everyone expected? The drug is Yescarta, one of the first CAR-T cell therapies, which delivered remarkable clinical outcomes for patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma and generated enormous excitement when it launched. And yet, years on, adoption of CAR-T has lagged well behind what the industry anticipated. To understand why, I have 3 guests with me today who each experienced the Yescarta story from a completely different vantage point. Harris Kaplan is a life sciences commercial strategist and founder of Litmys. He worked on the launch and conducted interviews with physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators before and after it. Diane Perks led the commercial introduction of Yescarta. And Jim Haag is a patient who navigated the complex and at times grueling journey to actually receive CAR-T therapy. This is not a clinical discussion. It's a candid, unfiltered look at the gap between what innovation promises and what the healthcare system actually delivers. And just one more thing before we dive in. Starting with this episode, In Vivo is adding video to the podcast. You'll be able to watch as well as listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and wherever you follow us. We'll be bringing video to as many episodes as possible going forward. Let's get going with this. Harris, do you want to set the stage for the conversation we're about to have?

[SPEAKER_B] Sure. This starts out with the data. Clinical data on most refractory patients, which was patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. It was extraordinary. I mean, you know, we're not talking about data that, you know, lends itself to increasing, you know, basically the time, you know, between progression-free survival. We're talking about data that's a cure. These are patients who have already failed 2 different modalities. These are patients at death's door. Here you've got a process and a drug that can basically deliver a cure. There's been nothing like that. Kite, you know, along with Novartis, that both companies had separate compounds. But, you know, clearly this sparked the interest of Gilead because, you know, initially CAR-T was only available in a limited number of centers. Diane certainly can talk to that. But I think Gilead saw this and said, wow, this is a breakthrough. This is something that we ought to be able to scale and bring to more people and more broadly. And that was the basis of the acquisition in, I believe it wa...

The Yescarta Launch Examined

Transcript

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The Yescarta Launch Examined

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.