Analyst Breaks Down Bluebird Bio's Better-Than-Expected Clinical Results

Wedbush analyst David Nierengarten maintains his Outperform rating and $95 target price on bluebird bio Inc (NASDAQ: BLUE), which announced positive results from its early-stage cancer study.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bluebird bio said early data from its ongoing Phase 1 study of bb2121 showed objective anti-tumor responses in heavily pre-treated multiple myeloma patients. bluebird bio is developing bb2121 in collaboration with Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG).

Study Highlights

Following are the key highlights of the study:

• In highly refractory multiple myeloma, bb2121 shows 78 percent overall response rate (ORR), including 100 percent ORR at higher doses tested.
• bb2121 appears safe, with no DLTs or serious cases of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or neurotoxicity observed.

“The initial results with bb2121 were better than expected, with high response rates and no safety concerns observed in heavily pretreated MM patients,” Nierengarten wrote in a note.

Further, the result also validates the company’s budding immuno-oncology platform, and is a milestone in the company’s efforts to expand beyond its initial gene therapy/HSC focus.

“With efficacy that appears superior to other anti-BCMA CAR-Ts in development, bb2121 looks to be in the pole position,” Nierengarten highlighted.

What To Expect Moving Forward

Now, the analyst is looking for additional follow-up data from the study that could be available in 2017, with an eye on safety and strong response rates in the higher dose cohorts, durability of the responses and additional data on the level of expansion and persistence of the CAR-T cells.

Meanwhile, bb2121 could proceed directly into a pivotal trial if bluebird manages to achieve similar kind of success in larger Phase 1 study.

At last check, shares of bluebird had climbed 18.31 percent on the day to trade at $71.30.