2SeventyBio's partner pauses cancer therapy study after patient death
AML is fast-growing blood cells cancer that starts in the bone marrow and can spread to other organs
(Reuters) - 2SeventyBio said a patient's death in an early-stage study on a therapy for a type of cancer in children had led its partner to pause the trial, sending the company's shares down 3% in premarket trading.
The cell and gene therapy company said it was investigating the cause of the death, which occurred in the first patient treated at the second dosing level in the trial.
It added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had been notified about the death.
2SeventyBio was testing the therapy, SC-DARIC33, along with its partner, Seattle Children's Therapeutics, as a potential treatment for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), who have stopped responding to previous treatments.
AML is a fast-growing cancer of blood cells that starts in the bone marrow and can spread to other organs.
Pediatric AML occurs in seven per million globally, according to data from National Institutes of Health.
The therapy SC-DARIC33 belongs to a class of treatments known as CAR-T therapies, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies. These work by extracting disease-fighting T-cells from a patient, re-engineering them to attack cancer and infusing them back into the body.
Shares of the company fell as much as 12% premarket before paring losses.
