Neurotoxicity killed JCAR015 right along with 5 patients in the lead pivotal study, derailing Juno Therapeutics.
WASHINGTON, DC — Neurotoxicity killed JCAR015 right along with 5 patients in the lead pivotal study, derailing Juno Therapeutics and allowing first Novartis and then Gilead/Kite to surge way ahead with the first two approvals in the field. But Juno now plans to take what it’s learned from that lethal implosion and make over its next drug — JCAR017 — into what it promises will be a dramatically improved drug that can leapfrog the leaders.
Mark Gilbert, the chief medical officer at Juno, appeared at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (#SITC2017) meeting over the weekend to outline where the biotech has reached in its investigation, and how it’s applying those lessons to make JCAR017 into the impressive therapy that they’ve begun updating along the way to a planned marketing application.
