Kite Pharma Reports Positive Results From Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Drug Study

Kite Pharma Inc. said Tuesday a study of a treatment for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma met its main goal in a trial. The company said the first analysis of data for its lead CAR-T candidate, axicabtagene ciloleucel (previously referred to as KTE-C19), in patients with chemorefractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma met its primary endpoint. The study involved 101 patients, 41% of whom had recorded a response at month six. "Five of the 101 patients (5 percent) continue to experience highly significant and durable partial responses (PR) with minimal abnormalities in PET scans," the company said in a statement. The results "are exceptional and suggest that more than a third of patients with refractory aggressive NHL could potentially be cured after a single infusion of axicabtagene ciloleucel, " said Jeff Wiezorek, M.D., senior vice president of clinical development. The company will present the data at the American Association for Cancer Research in April 2017 in Washington, D.C. Shares were halted for the news.

Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.