The fallout from the clinical hold that regulators placed late Thursday on a key clinical trial being run by Juno Therapeutics may not be known for weeks, if not longer. Of course, the ramifications are already being dissected, especially on Wall Street, where investors are trying to determine the extent to which the approach that Juno is taking to combating cancer will affect its fortunes and possibly other companies, as well.
To quickly recap, Juno is exploring CAR-T immunotherapy — genetically modifying patient T cells, which help fight cancer, and then injecting them back into the bloodstream. But its most advanced project, which involves a compound called JCAR015, led to three patient deaths. The mid-stage trial, known as Rocket, is testing the compound in adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Juno believes the culprit is fludarabine, a chemotherapy that was added to the mix of drugs used to treat patients before administering JCAR015. The FDA has asked the drug maker to submit various materials, but for now, it remains uncertain what happens. Meanwhile, Wall Street analysts are ballparking the odds. Here is what some of the wags are telling investors Friday morning …
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