Max Nisen, Columnist

Juno Needs to Back a Different CAR-T Horse

There's no sense throwing more good money after its current lead drug.

December 6, 2016 at 5:44 PM UTC

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

As other companies race toward approval for CAR-Ts -- medicines that modify human immune cells to hunt cancers -- Seattle-based Juno Therapeutics Inc. is stuck in neutral.

The company's lead drug candidate, JCAR015, has caused five patient deaths from brain swelling this year. Its clinical trial is currently on hold as the company tries to figure out what's wrong. Juno says it still believes the drug can help patients. But the company and its investors would be best served if it moved on to focus on its other drugs.