Bristol Myers discloses patient death in early-stage cell therapy study
BMY•Bristol Myers Squibb disclosed that a patient in an early-stage trial of its experimental CAR-T therapy zola-cel died of septic pneumonia. The company had paused zola-cel studies in September while reviewing safety data.
1. Patient death disclosed
The patient, who had highly active relapsing multiple sclerosis, developed septic pneumonia after receiving high-dose chemotherapy and died the next day, 44 days after the CAR-T infusion. The patient also developed delayed motor symptoms that did not respond to corticosteroids or intravenous immunoglobulin.
2. Studies paused
Bristol Myers Squibb said in September it was voluntarily pausing zola-cel studies while it reviewed safety data, “out of an abundance of caution.” Its shares were trading 2.5% lower in early trading.
