On November 27, 2018 Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq: CELG) and bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) reported the completion of enrollment for the KarMMa pivotal study of bb2121, the companies’ lead investigational anti-BCMA CAR T cell therapy candidate for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (Press release, bluebird bio, NOV 27, 2018, View Source [SID1234531638]). bb2121 is being developed as part of a Co-Development, Co-Promote and Profit Share Agreement between Celgene and bluebird bio.
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"We continue to be excited about bb2121 as a potential first-in-class BCMA-targeted therapy for patients with multiple myeloma," said Alise Reicin, M.D., President, Global Clinical Development for Celgene. "We would like to thank everyone who enabled this achievement, especially the patients and caregivers, and we congratulate the physicians and others involved in the KarMMa study, including our dedicated partners at bluebird bio. We look forward to seeing the data from this study and are progressing our broader bb2121 development program as we advance closer toward delivering this important new option to appropriate patients in need."
"We are committed to developing new treatment options to improve the care of patients with multiple myeloma, and completing enrollment of the KarMMa study moves us closer to this goal," said David Davidson, M.D., chief medical officer, bluebird bio. "As we advance our clinical studies of bb2121 in earlier lines of therapy in collaboration with our partners at Celgene, we remain very grateful to the patients, families and healthcare providers who have made this program possible."
KarMMa is a pivotal, open-label, single-arm, multi-center phase 2 study evaluating the efficacy and safety of bb2121 in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. In November 2017, bb2121 was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and PRIority Medicines (PRIME) eligibility by the European Medicines Agency. The BTD designation and PRIME eligibility were based on preliminary clinical data from the phase 1 CRB-401 study.
The FDA action date for the bb2121 NDA is anticipated in 2020. bb2121 is currently an investigational therapy; safety and efficacy have not yet been established. bb2121 has not been approved for use by any health authority.