When multiple myeloma comes back after treatment or stops responding, CAR T-cell therapy may be an option. Two BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapies are approved by China's NMPA for multiple myeloma. SinoUnited Health in Shanghai administers both for relapsed or refractory disease.
Plain, general information about the disease — the shared starting point before we get to treatment.
Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells — a type of white blood cell in the bone marrow that normally makes antibodies. In myeloma, abnormal plasma cells build up in the marrow and can cause problems such as bone damage, anaemia, kidney strain, and a weakened immune system. Many people respond well to initial treatment, but myeloma often returns over time.
When myeloma comes back after responding, it's called relapsed. When it stops responding to a treatment, it's called refractory. Patients whose myeloma is relapsed or refractory after several rounds of treatment have fewer standard options left — which is where newer approaches like CAR T-cell therapy become relevant.
Not a first treatment — a later-line option, targeted at a protein found on myeloma cells.
CAR T-cell therapy is generally considered for multiple myeloma that is relapsed or refractory after multiple prior treatments, rather than as a first treatment.
It works by re-engineering your own immune cells to recognize a protein called BCMA, found on the surface of myeloma cells, so they can seek out and destroy them. The therapies SinoUnited uses for myeloma are both BCMA-targeted CAR-T treatments.
Both are BCMA-targeted CAR-T treatments administered at SinoUnited Health. Which is right for you is decided by the clinical team.
A BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, developed and approved in China.
About Equ-cel for multiple myelomaA BCMA-targeted CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
About Zevor-cel for multiple myelomaA condition may be treated by more than one therapy, and a therapy may treat more than one condition — each therapy page links back to the conditions it's used for.
Eligibility is assessed from your records — which means you can find out where you stand before traveling.
The following information is for reference only. Final treatment decisions should be made by a qualified physician based on each patient's individual condition.
Not suitable if: active uncontrolled infection · severe organ dysfunction · hypersensitivity to product components or conditioning chemotherapy · active CNS disease (unless stable and tolerated per the therapy's label) · pregnancy or breastfeeding.
This is a general guide only. Whether CAR-T is right for you is a decision made by a qualified physician after reviewing your individual case.
Treatment happens across two trips to Shanghai, with the manufacturing weeks spent at home.
A first visit of around a week to collect your cells by apheresis, on-site.
About 1 week in ShanghaiYour CAR-T therapy is made while you return home.
3 to 4 weeksYou return for the infusion and monitored recovery under the clinical team.
About 3 weeks in ShanghaiAbout two months from first assessment to the end of treatment, with the manufacturing period spent at home.
See the full step-by-step journey →Kept deliberately separate: what is true of this class of therapy in general, and what SinoUnited provides.
CAR T-cell therapy can cause side effects that need close monitoring — most commonly cytokine release syndrome (CRS), and sometimes neurological effects (ICANS). Most are manageable when caught early, which is why treatment is given as a supervised inpatient stay.
SinoUnited delivers infusion and recovery with on-site intensive care available if escalation is ever needed.
Tocilizumab, the standard treatment for severe cytokine release syndrome, is available on site.
5on-site ICUsRelapsed and refractory multiple myeloma is treated at SinoUnited's CAR T-Cell Therapy Center by Dr. Lily Zhou, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Hematology, with a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF, 25 publications indexed in PubMed, and peer-reviewed research in CAR T-cell therapy.
Since 2024 the CAR T-Cell Therapy Center has treated more than 35 patients from twelve countries.
SinoUnited is also a member of the Ruijin Consortium of Blood Disease, led by Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University — one of China's leading hematology collaborations.
Dr. Zhou's publications are cited as evidence of her standing as a published physician. They are not, and must not be read as, a response rate, success rate, or an indication of outcomes across patients.
Read Dr. Zhou's profile
SinoUnited offers CAR-T as an all-inclusive “2+21” package — covering the collection stay and the three-week infusion stay. The full breakdown of what's included, and pricing, lives on the Costs page as a single source of truth.
Yes — CAR T-cell therapy is generally considered for multiple myeloma that is relapsed (it has returned) or refractory (it did not respond, or stopped responding) after several prior treatments. A qualified physician decides based on your individual condition.
The general criterion is three or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent. This is a guide only — a qualified physician decides.
BCMA (B-cell maturation antigen) is the target the myeloma CAR T-cell therapies are directed at. It's different from CD19, the target used for the lymphoma and leukemia therapies — the target depends on the type of cancer.
Yes — SinoUnited's international care team reviews your records remotely, at no cost, before any travel.
The first step is a free remote assessment. Find out whether CAR-T is an option before you plan any travel.