On December 7, the FDA placed a hold on recruitment and dosing in Bellicum’s prostate cancer therapy trial after the company reported a patient death. Bellicum was testing the therapy in patients that were previously subjected to treatment for metastatic pancreatic or prostate cancer.
The company said the death was unrelated to the treatment, and that it would seek to work with the FDA to resume the trial. BPX-601, the company’s first GoCART-T candidate is attempting to tackle solid tumors in humans, something that other approved therapies have been unable to do.