STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about Novartis and Bristol pausing cell therapy trials, a $480K cancer drug, and more — SkimNews
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- Trump administration announced pricing deals with 9 new drugmakers — Alcon, Astellas, BeOne, BridgeBio, CSL, Sun Pharma, Kyowa Kirin, Teva, and UCB — joining the 17 companies that reached prior agreements.
- The new drugmakers pledged to sell medications at prices comparable to the lowest in peer countries, offer "most-favored nation" pricing to state Medicaid programs, and in some cases bolster domestic manufacturing and contribute to U.S. medical stockpiles.
- Deal details haven't been publicly released, leaving the effect on drug costs and accessibility unclear.
- Novartis paused multiple trials of its CAR-T therapy rap-cel for autoimmune conditions after observing inflammatory side effects in testing.
- Three patients in Novartis rap-cel trials died from a dangerous immune system reaction, per Endpoints.
- Bristol Myers Squibb voluntarily paused enrollment in autoimmune trials evaluating its CAR-T treatment zola-cel.
- Both rap-cel and zola-cel are being developed with technology meant to speed up production compared to earlier CAR-T products — one possible explanation offered for the safety signals.
Why it matters: The CAR-T halts at Novartis and Bristol Myers raise safety flags about faster-production cell therapy tech in autoimmune disease after three deaths, while Trump's expanded pricing coalition now spans 26 drugmakers — though undisclosed deal terms leave any near-term impact on patient costs unclear.
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