The chance to unleash powerful cancer cell therapies on autoimmune conditions has gotten tantalizingly closer this year. One program from Kyverna Therapeutics is headed toward an approval decision. Others are either in, or nearing late-stage testing.
News this week from Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb, though, has threatened to throw that progress into disarray. On Monday, both companies revealed they’ve paused multiple trials of their so-called CAR-T treatments in several autoimmune disorders because of worrisome safety incidents. In Novartis’ case, three participants died following a severe immune reaction. Bristol Myers saw “transient but reversible inflammatory events,” a spokesperson said.
Shares in companies like Kyverna, Cabaletta Bio, Allogene Therapeutics, CRISPR Therapeutics and Fate Therapeutics — all of which are investing in autoimmune cell therapy in one way or another — dropped abruptly before recovering. Since then, Wall Street analysts have begun assessing the impact of Novartis and Bristol Myers’ findings, and multiple developers have tried to assure investors their prospective treatments are different.
The results “have raised some investor questions regarding the broader [autoimmune cell therapy] landscape,” wrote Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith.
