Bellicum Pharmaceuticals EHA Presentation Helps Validate Its Platform

After attending the European Hematology Association meeting, Wells Fargo said it views updated results Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc BLCM presented for BPX-501, validated its controllable cell therapy platform. This, according to the firm, is supportive of a potential new standard of care in haploidentical stem cell transplant.

Analyst Jim Birchenough noted that Bellicum's presentation at the EHA last Friday was focused on 47 pediatric leukemia patients treated at the Ospedale Pediatrico in Italy.

BPX-501 is an allogenic T cell add-back product used after a T-cell depleted haploidentical allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant for both benign and malignant hematologic diseases.

The analysts said the data pertained to 28 subjects with acute lymphocytic leukemia and 19 with acute myeloid leukemia, all of whom were in either a first or second complete response at the time of transplant.

Favorable Outcomes

Giving details of the data, Wells Fargo said median days to platelet/neutrophil recovery were 11/16 days and hospital discharge was 21 days. Acute graft versus host disease, or aGvHD, grade 2–4 was observed in five subjects, the firm noted.

Additionally, the firm said, "Rimiducid was used for uncontrollable GvHD in 4 cases with prompt resolution in all, followed by rapid recovery of BPX-501 without recurrence of GvHD."

The firm also noted the company's claim that leukemic relapse compared favorably to a historical control cohort from T cell depleted haplo-SCT without T-cell add back.

Twin Perspectives

As a platform, the firm believes BPX-501's continued success in aborting severe GvHD validated the effectiveness of its switches. The firm said this could have broader applicability in controlling and optimizing the therapeutic index of other cell therapies, like CAR-T cells and eTCR therapeutics in its pipeline.

Meanwhile, as a new standard of care, the firm said the combination of lower leukemic relapse rate, and lower rate of treatment related mortality should establish a standard of care for haploidentical transplant. This could help in expanding BPX-501 into the larger opportunity of matched unrelated donors, the firm said.

As such, Wells Fargo has an Outperform rating on the shares of Bellicum, with a $31 price target.

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