Mustang Bio deal with St Jude on 'bubble boy disease'

USA-based Mustang Biotech (Nasdaq: MBIO) has entered into a partnership and exclusive license deal with St Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the development of a first-in-class ex vivo lentiviral gene therapy for children with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID), or bubble boy disease.

The news seems not to have inspired investors, as the company’s shares fell 4.47% to $5.99 on Tuesday, though that may be to do with financial results and update that were published the same day.

The potentially curative therapy is being evaluated by St Jude and others in a Phase I/II trial in infants under two, the world’s first lentiviral gene therapy trial for infants with X-SCID, and by the National Institutes of Health in a Phase I/II trial in patients over the age of two.