Can Teritusumab/Telicot be discontinued once used?

Teritusumab (Teclistamab-cqyv) is not a drug that "cannot be stopped once used", but whether it can be stopped must be decided by a doctor based on a comprehensive assessment of the condition, efficacy and tolerability. Because teritusumab forms an immune killing mechanism by activating T cells and BCMA-targeted cells, stopping the drug too early may lead to a weakened immune response, leading to disease recurrence.

During treatment, if patients with multiple myeloma (MM) experience severe immune-related side effects, such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or neurotoxic reactions, doctors may recommend temporarily stopping the drug and providing supportive treatment. When symptoms subside, medications can be restarted based on recovery. If the adverse reactions are serious and irreversible, the drug needs to be permanently discontinued. For patients with good efficacy, the dosing interval can be gradually extended after achieving complete remission, for example, from once a week to once every two weeks to maintain efficacy while reducing long-term toxicity.

If the drug is planned to be discontinued because the disease is under stable control, strict follow-up is required, including hematological monitoring, immunophenotypic testing, and imaging review to ensure that tumor cells have not become active again. If signs of disease activity appear after discontinuation of medication, treatment should be resumed immediately or the regimen should be changed.

It is worth noting that the course of teritusumab treatment is individualized, and some patients may require long-term maintenance to maintain continued suppression of myeloma cells by the immune system. Hasty interruption may reduce immune memory function and affect long-term prognosis.

In general, the decision to discontinue teritusumab should follow the principle of “maximizing efficacy and giving priority to safety”. Doctors will comprehensively evaluate the patient's disease course, immune response and side effects, and scientifically plan the medication cycle and maintenance time to achieve individualized and precise long-term treatment management.

Reference materials:https://www.tecvayli.com/