Patient Death Reported in Bristol Myers Squibb zola-cel Breakfree-2 Study

Bristol Myers Squibb disclosed that a multiple sclerosis patient in the phase 1 trial of zolacabtagene autoleucel (zola-cel) developed septic pneumonia and died 44 days after infusion. The patient had earlier shown delayed motor symptoms unrelated to ICANS, which did not improve with intermittent corticosteroids or intravenous immunoglobulin; the event occurred after the company had voluntarily paused enrollment in the study.