CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE) a clinical-stage company committed to developing potentially transformative gene therapies for severe genetic and orphan diseases, today announced that the first subject with severe sickle cell disease has undergone infusion with bluebird bio’s LentiGlobin BB305 drug product in an autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This patient is enrolled in the HGB-205 Study being conducted in Paris, France. bluebird has also opened a separate US-based trial (HGB-206) in the United States for the treatment of up to 8 severe sickle cell disease patients with the company’s LentiGlobin BB305 drug product.
“We are treating a sickle cell patient for the first time with gene therapy,” stated Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at Paris Descartes University and Research Director at the Centre for Clinical Research in Biotherapy, Necker Hospital, and at the Institute of Genetic Diseases, Imagine, Paris France. “Sickle cell disease is a devastating disease that affects hundreds of thousands of people in the US and Europe and millions around the world. The therapeutic options for patients with sickle cell disease are currently limited, so the opportunity to bring a one-time, potentially curative treatment to these patients by modification of autologous hematopoietic stem cells would represent a great advance for patients with sickle cell disease and for the field.”
“Sickle cell disease shortens life expectancy by decades even in developed countries, so it is exciting to contemplate that LentiGlobin may offer the curative potential of allogeneic stem cell transplantation by using a patient’s own cells,” stated David Davidson, MD, bluebird bio’s Chief Medical Officer. “In June 2014, we reported preliminary results from the HGB-205 Study demonstrating that treatment with LentiGlobin drug product led to high-level production of beta-T87Q-globin and rapid transfusion independence in two beta-thalassemia major patients. Given the anti-sickling property of the amino acid substitution engineered into beta-T87Q-globin, we are optimistic about the potential for LentiGlobin to mitigate the signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease. We anticipate providing initial clinical data on LentiGlobin in sickle cell disease patients in 2015.”
About the HGB-205 Study
The phase 1/2 study is designed to
evaluate the safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin BB305 drug product in
the treatment of subjects with beta-thalassemia major and severe sickle
cell disease. The study is designed to enroll up to seven subjects.
Subjects will be followed to evaluate safety and transfusion
requirements post-transplant. In sickle cell disease patients, efficacy
will also be measured based on the frequency of vaso-occlusive crises or
acute chest syndrome events.
For more information on the HGB-205 Study, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov using identifier NCT02151526.
About the HGB-206 Study
The phase 1 study is designed to
evaluate the safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin BB305 drug product in
the treatment of subjects with severe sickle cell disease. The study is
designed to enroll up to eight subjects. Subjects will be followed to
evaluate safety and efficacy will be measured based on changes in red
cell function tests, hemolysis markers and frequency of clinical events
secondary to sickle cell disease (e.g. vaso-occlusive crises or acute
chest syndrome events).
For more information on the HGB-206 Study, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov using identifier NCT02140554.
About sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a
hereditary blood disorder resulting from a mutation in the beta globin
gene that causes polymerization of hemoglobin proteins and abnormal red
blood cell function. The symptoms of SCD include anemia, vaso-occlusive
crises and strokes. The global incidence of SCD is estimated to be
250,000 to 300,000 births annually, and the global prevalence of the
disease is estimated to be about 20 to 25 million.
About bluebird bio, Inc.
bluebird bio is a clinical-stage
company committed to developing potentially transformative gene
therapies for severe genetic and orphan diseases. bluebird bio has two
clinical-stage programs in development. The most advanced product
candidate, Lenti-D, is in a recently-initiated phase 2/3 study, the
Starbeam Study, for the treatment of childhood cerebral
adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD), a rare, hereditary neurological disorder
affecting young boys. The next most advanced product candidate,
LentiGlobin, is currently in two phase 1/2 studies, one in the US (the
Northstar Study) and one in France (HGB-205), for the treatment of
beta-thalassemia major. The phase 1/2 HGB-205 study also allows
enrollment of patient(s) with sickle cell disease, and bluebird bio is
conducting a separate U.S. sickle cell disease trial (HGB-206).
bluebird bio also has an early-stage chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cell (CAR-T) program for oncology in collaboration with Celgene Corporation.
bluebird bio has operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Seattle, Washington, and Paris, France. For more information, please visit www.bluebirdbio.com .
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding
the potential efficacy and safety of the Company’s LentiGlobin BB305
product candidate, the Company’s plans with respect to LentiGlobin and
its other product candidates and anticipated clinical and business
milestones and announcements for 2015. In addition it should be noted
that the data for LentiGlobin announced from the HGB-205 study in
patients with beta-thalassemia major are preliminary in nature and the
HGB-205 trial is not completed. These data may not continue for these
subjects or be repeated or observed in ongoing or future studies
involving our LentiGlobin product candidate, including the HGB-205
Study, the Northstar Study or the HGB-206 study in severe SCD. Any
forward-looking statements are based on management’s current
expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and
adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited
to, the risk of cessation or delay of any of the ongoing or planned
clinical studies and/or our development of our product candidates, the
risk of a delay in the enrollment of patients in the Company’s clinical
studies, the risk that the results of previously conducted studies
involving similar product candidates will not be repeated or observed in
ongoing or future studies involving current product candidates, the risk
that our collaboration with Celgene will not continue or will not be
successful, and the risk that any one or more of our product candidates
will not be successfully developed and commercialized. For a discussion
of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of
which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in
the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors”
in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as well as discussions of
potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All
information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and
bluebird bio undertakes no duty to update this information unless
required by law.
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