The treatment, called Kymriah, was approved for patients up to 25 years of age who have relapsed or not helped by prior treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Dr Kevin Curran, a pediatric oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, noted the treatment’s high cost. Shares of Bluebird Bio Inc, which is developing a promising CAR-T treatment, were up 11.1 percent at $113.73. In the pivotal Novartis trial, 83 percent of patients achieved remission with a disease that has historically poor outcomes. Shares of Juno Therapeutics Inc, which last year reported a handful of patient deaths during trials of its CAR-T therapy, were down 8.9 percent at $39.92.

Source: Huffington Post August 30, 2017 22:30 UTC