Bristol Myers Squibb pauses autoimmune CAR‑T trials after life‑threatening side effects

Bristol Myers Squibb announced in early June that it is pausing its CAR‑T therapy trials targeting autoimmune diseases after the trials reported life‑threatening side effects.

The company informed regulators, researchers and patient‑advocacy groups of the pause, but the information only became public after an analyst note and subsequent news coverage, raising concerns about transparency in trial reporting.

The pause follows three deaths reported in similar CAR‑T trials conducted by Novartis, underscoring safety challenges that are emerging across the cell‑therapy field.

The article also notes other industry moves, including Pfizer’s decision to offload a shelved drug candidate and the recent case where two patients who received genetically engineered pig kidneys later received human kidney transplants.