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Study of Juno Therapeutics Leukemia Treatment Is Allowed to Resume
A study of an experimental treatment for leukemia that was halted last week after the death of two patients has been allowed to resume after a modification.
The Food and Drug Administration suspended a trial by Juno Therapeutics after the company reported that two patients had died from swelling of the brain. Juno said the problem stemmed not from its treatment but from a chemotherapy drug used in pretreatment. The agency said it would allow the trial to resume without the chemotherapy drug.
Juno’s treatment is a promising, but still unproved, approach that re-engineers patients’ immune systems to attack cancer. White blood cells are removed from the body and altered to target cancer cells when returned.
Early studies have shown some striking results in treating certain types of leukemia and lymphoma, generating excitement among oncologists, patients and investors.
But the therapy can provoke severe side effects, particularly immune system overreactions and neurological toxicity, including swelling in the brain, known as cerebral edema. Several deaths have resulted from these side effects.
Juno shares were up 27 percent in trading after the market closed Tuesday, about what they dropped on the day the F.D.A. stopped the trial.
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