Cell therapy

Gamida Cell, whose cell therapy for blood cancer was approved last year by the FDA, is being taken private and restructuring due to liquidity constraints.
FDA
With several recent approvals in the space and more on the horizon, BioSpace looks at some of the key decisions and their larger significance both for patients and science.
Brazil’s Ministry of Health and nonprofit Caring Cross announced a collaboration Tuesday aimed at local manufacturing of CAR-T cell and stem cell gene therapies at a much lower cost than Europe and the U.S.
Capstan Therapeutics is looking to move its CAR-T cell candidate forward after securing financing from pharma venture arms and VC firms.
The FDA took center stage last week as it approved the first-ever MASH therapy and considered additional approvals for CAR-T therapies, whose safety the agency has been investigating since last year.
By votes of 11-0 and 8-3, respectively, an FDA advisory committee Friday deemed the risks of early death for both Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abecma acceptable.
FDA
The FDA approved Bristol Myers Squibb’s Breyanzi for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and small lymphocytic leukemia prior to Friday’s adcomm for the company’s other CAR-T therapy, Abecma.
With an advisory committee meeting slated for Friday, the regulator has posted briefing documents in which it has raised concerns about early deaths in patients treated with Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abecma and Johnson & Johnson’s Carvykti.
Allogene Therapeutics and Arbor Biotechnologies will use their allogeneic CAR T and next-generation gene-editing platforms to develop novel off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies for autoimmune diseases.
BMS and J&J will meet with the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee Friday to discuss their CAR-T therapies Abecma and Carvykti as the companies seek their approval as earlier lines of treatment.
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