News of bluebird bio plan to present LentiGlobin data at EHA causes stir

US clinical-stage biotech firm bluebird bio (Nasdaq: BLUE) caused much excitement yesterday when it announced that data from the ongoing Phase I/II HGB-205 study of LentiGlobin BB305 Drug Product will be presented in an oral presentation on June 13, 2015 at the 20th Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Vienna, Austria.

The news, coming two days after bluebird outlined regulatory filing plans (The Pharma Letter May 19), sent the company’s shares to an all time high of $186.36, though closing the day up 4.4% at $172.94.

“The early data included in our abstract provide further validation for our approach and important insights into the safety and mechanism of action of LentiGlobin in both beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease,” said David Davidson, chief medical officer, bluebird bio. “As noted in the abstract, we are pleased to report that the two patients with beta-thalassemia major, on whom we first reported last year at EHA, remained transfusion independent at 14 and 11 months post-transplant. In addition, it is very encouraging that the patient with sickle cell disease is increasing production of HbAT87Q, which has anti-sickling properties, and has not had a post-treatment hospitalization for a sickle cell disease-related event. At EHA we will present further follow up data on all three subjects,” he added.