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Juno Therapeutics rallies as cancer drug trial is allowed to restart

Last updated: 08:32 13 Jul 2016 EDT, First published: 03:32 13 Jul 2016 EDT

Clinical tests
A chemotherapy drug has been removed from the treatment process.

Juno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:JUNO) is set to rebound on Wednesday after it was cleared to resume a cancer drug trial by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A week ago the ‘ROCKET’ trial – a Phase 2 clinical test of the JCAR015 treatment for leukemia – was suspended following the deaths of two patients on the trial. The deaths occurred after a chemotherapy drug, called fludarabine, was added to the pre-conditioning regimen.

Juno Therapeutics has since made changes to remove that drug from the process.

Consequently, the FDA has now allowed the trial to resume. The company will now restart enrolment and JCAR015 will be given with cyclophosphamide pre-conditioning only.

In pre-market deals Juno Therapeutic shares rose US$6.51, 23.4%, to US$34.30 though they remain some way below the US$40 marker seen before the ROCKET trial has put on hold.

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