Novartis Talks Move to Cell and Gene Therapies at JPM

Following a strong post-hoc analysis of mid-stage data in the fall of 2018, Novartis announced this morning the company’s experimental humanized anti-P-selectin monoclonal antibody was crizanlizumab granted Breakthrough Therapy Status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Crizanlizumab received the designation as a treatment for the prevention of vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) in patients of all genotypes with sickle cell disease (SCD). VOCs, which can be extremely painful for patients, happen when multiple blood cells stick to each other and to blood vessels, causing blockages. The designation was awarded following results from the Phase II SUSTAIN trial, which showed that crizanlizumab reduced the median annual rate of VOCs leading to health care visits by 45.3 percent compared to placebo. The SUSTAIN study also showed that crizanlizumab significantly increased the percentage of patients who did not experience any VOCs vs placebo, 35.8 percent vs. 16.9 percent.