Innovative therapies are transforming the treatment landscape for blood cancers, but not all advances are following the same path to adoption.
While both CAR-T cell therapies and bispecific antibodies have experienced rapid growth in recent years, new analysis by CRA’s Chris Nüesch suggests that the underlying patterns of adoption tell two different stories.
Drawing on claims data from 2021-2025, the article examines how utilization of these therapies is evolving across healthcare organizations (HCOs) and whether adoption is expanding beyond the academic medical centers that first embraced these treatments.
These are the key findings addressed in the article:
CAR-T growth remains concentrated in academic centers. CAR-T utilization remains highly concentrated within a relatively small group of academic health systems. Despite nearly fivefold growth in treatment volume since 2021, the share of CAR-T utilization occurring at academic centers has remained remarkably stable – and in fact has risen slightly – from 92% to 94%.
Bispecific therapies are reaching a wider range of organizations. Bispecific therapies are showing signs of broader penetration across the healthcare landscape. The share of bispecific utilization coming from academic medical centers fell from 77% in 2023 to 64% in 2025, while the number of organizations contributing meaningfully to utilization continued to grow.
The research points to several practical considerations that influence adoption decisions. CAR-T therapies offer the potential for durable responses, and even curative outcomes in some settings, but they also require specialized infrastructure, complex referral pathways, intensive patient monitoring, and significant operational investment.
Bispecific antibodies present a different value proposition. Although response durability may be lower, these therapies are generally easier to administer, require less specialized infrastructure, and can be introduced into clinical practice more quickly. Their off-the-shelf availability and lower operational burden may be helping accelerate adoption outside traditional academic centers.
As treatment paradigms continue to evolve, the author suggests that success will increasingly hinge not only on clinical performance, but also on the ability to help healthcare organizations implement and operationalize these therapies effectively.
