Today's VJHemOnc podcast features discussions from the 7th International Workshop on CAR-T and bispecifics (iwCAR-T) 2025, which was held recently in Miami, FL. First you will hear from Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, Mohammad Rashidian, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, Michael Jain, MD, PhD, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, and Marco Ruella, MD, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, who explore outcomes of treatment with CAR T-cells and potential strategies to enhance their efficacy and minimize toxicities.

Michael Hudecek, MD, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, then provides insight into his keynote talk on accelerating CAR T-cell therapeutics with small molecules and CRISPR 2.0 gene editing. This is followed by Krish Patel, MD, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, Nashville, TN, Tara Graff, DO, MS, Mission Cancer and Blood, Des Moines, IA, and Caron Jacobson, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, who share their perspectives on how to improve access and delivery of T-cell engaging therapies in the community.

This episode features leading experts Paolo Ghia, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, and Arnon Kater, MD, PhD, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, who provide key insights into the management of relapsed/refractory (R/R) chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), guided by the latest ESMO clinical practice recommendations. They explore treatment strategies at first relapse and for double-refractory patients, including fixed-duration combinations and the emerging role of the non-covalent BTK inhibitor, pirtobrutinib. Additionally, the experts share their perspectives on the role of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and CAR T-cell therapy, and offer a glimpse into promising therapies on the horizon, such as BTK degraders and bispecific antibodies.