Cell Therapy for ALL Receives Breakthrough Therapy Designation

A personalized immunotherapy has been awarded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Breakthrough Therapy designation for the treatment of relapsed and refractory adult and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The investigational therapy, known as CTL019, is the first personalized cellular therapy for the treatment of cancer to receive this important classification.

In early-stage clinical trials at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 89 percent of ALL patients who were not responding to conventional therapies went into complete remission after receiving CTL019.