Kite, Pfizer to conduct combo trial of Yescarta and utomilumab

The Kite Pharma Inc. unit of Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) partnered with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) to conduct a Phase I/II study of Kite's chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy Yescarta axicabtagene ciloleucel in combination with Pfizer's utomilumab (PF-05082566) to treat refractory large B cell lymphoma. Kite will sponsor the trial, which the partners expect will begin this year.

Gilead acquired Kite in October for $11.9 billion. There are few if any companies better at combination strategies than Gilead. The company built its multibillion-dollar virology franchises through the methodical and swift development of combination therapies that iterate on an initial agent developed as monotherapy, expanding both the efficacy and the exclusivity of that agent (see BioCentury, Sept. 8, 2017)...