The halt was implemented on August 24 after Novartis was notified of three cases of a severe, life-threatening immune reaction. Complications from the reaction, in which the body's defense system overreacts and attacks its own organs, led to the deaths, the Swiss drugmaker said.

The deaths of three study participants led Novartis to halt development of rap-cel in multiple indications, while “transient” side effects pushed Bristol Myers to voluntarily…

Novartis halts CAR-T trials after three patient deaths from an immune overreaction; Bristol Myers pauses zola-cel enrollment.