Vir’s George Scangos, Westlake Village BioPartners’ Sean Harper, Kronos Bio’s Norbert Bischofberger, Scorpion’s Axel Hoos and Eikon’s Roy Baynes discuss the experiences they bring and the challenges they have faced in the transition from large drug makers to small biotechs. 

Kite beats BMS’s Breyanzi to the first CAR-T approval in second-line large B-cell lymphoma. The added indication could nearly double the number of potential US patients for Yescarta.

Cost, logistics and safety could limit use of CAR-T therapies in first- and second-line treatment of hematologic malignancies, but for some patients there are clear benefits over standards of care.

Nanjing-based Chinese biotech says it has had a US clinical hold put in place for it CAR-T, amid broader challenges for China's cell therapy sector and more measured reaction to the setback than the recent immuno-oncology decision in the US.