FDA Imposes Clinical Hold on Bellicum Lead Candidate BPX-501

The FDA has placed a clinical hold on studies of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals’ lead candidate BPX-501 after three patients were reported to have developed encephalopathy—cases that the company acknowledged were deemed as related to the T-cell therapy being developed for blood cancers and inherited blood disorders.The three patients are among more than 240 who have been treated with BPX-501 cells on three allogeneic haploidentical stem cell transplantation protocols, the company said.&ldq