Are Viruses a Problem for CAR-T Drugmakers?

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) could change how doctors treat cancer patients; however, creating these drugs is complicated and a flurry of research and commercialization activity could create a manufacturing bottleneck for some companies. CAR-Ts rely on inactivated viruses to reengineer T-cells to find and ultimately destroy cancer cells and, unfortunately, there's a limited number of companies that can supply them. Will tight supply derail drugmakers' plans?

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) agreed to pay nearly $12 billion to acquire CAR-T drugmaker Kite Pharma in August after Kite's Yescarta demonstrated impressive efficacy and manageable safety in advanced non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. The FDA approved Yescarta in October, but it wasn't the only CAR-T to secure an FDA green light recently. Novartis (NYSE: NVS) got the go-ahead to begin marketing Kymriah for use in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients this year, too.

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Source: Fool.com