Evidence mounts that BCMA CAR T cells are vulnerable to antigen escape

Two papers characterizing cases of resistance to bluebird and BMS’s multiple myeloma CAR T cell therapy point to a vulnerability that could extend to other anti-BCMA therapies — loss of the target’s gene.

Companies have been hoping that BCMA will be less prone to “antigen escape” than other targets because the protein is important for survival and proliferation of multiple myeloma cells...