Celgene (CELG) told investors last week that its experimental CAR-T therapy for patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma would be submitted to regulators in the first half of 2020. Naturally, that filing presupposes a positive outcome from an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial. So when will those data be disclosed?
On that not-so-minor question, Celgene remains noncommittal, except to say the results on the treatment called bb2121 will be known later this year. Meanwhile, Celgene’s partner, Bluebird Bio (BLUE), is also withholding long-term patient outcomes from an earlier clinical trial of bb2121. That decision hasn’t attracted as much scrutiny as it deserves.
Bluebird has been tracking tumor response rates, relapses, and survival for 36 multiple myeloma patients treated with bb2121 in an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial. That trial, called CRB-401, was started in 2016. Promising results — Bluebird chief executive Nick Leschly described them as a “home run” — were last presented in June 2018.
About the Author Reprints
The BMY deal to buy CELG might be cause to hold data.