NEW YORK – 2seventy Bio on Thursday officially separated from Bluebird Bio and announced it will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Nov. 5 under the symbol "TSVT."
In January, Bluebird Bio announced plans to separate its genetic disease and oncology business units into two publicly traded companies. 2seventy's assets include Bluebird Bio's immune-oncology cell therapy products for solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. The company is launching with $442 million in cash, which it anticipates is sufficient to fund operations into 2023.
2seventy's portfolio includes a development and 50/50 US commercialization partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb for idecabtagene vicleucel (Abecma; ide-cel), the BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy. The US Food and Drug Administration approved the autologous cell therapy as a fifth-line multiple myeloma treatment earlier this year. The therapy brought in $67 million in sales in Q3, the first full quarter after its launch in the US. BMS and 2seventry are conducting studies to explore the drug as an earlier-line treatment for multiple myeloma.
By year-end, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based 2seventy will present data from a Phase I trial of bb21217, a BCMA-directed CAR T-cell therapy, in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma patients. The autologous cell therapy comprises the same CAR molecule as ide-cel and a PI3K inhibitor. 2seventy is also applying its experience with ide-cel to design a next-generation T-cell therapy.
In the first half of 2022, 2seventy will begin Phase I studies for two therapeutic candidates: SC-DARIC33 in relapsed or refractory pediatric and young adult acute myeloid leukemia and bbT369 in relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The SC-DARIC33 trial, being conducted in collaboration with Seattle Children's Therapeutics, will be the first evaluation of 2seventy's proprietary Dimerizing Agent Regulated Immunoreceptor Complex (DARIC) T-cell platform. The bbT369 dose-escalation trial will serve as a proof-of-concept assessment of 2seventy's proprietary gene editing platform, dual-targeting strategies, and split co-stimulation signaling technology.
Lastly, the company has multiple pre-clinical studies underway, including a MAGEA4-targeting program to explore innovative ways of homing in on an antigen commonly expressed on the surface of cancer cells in solid tumors.
"We begin with the foundational understanding that autologous CAR T-cell therapy works, yet there’s room to build and improve. We identify the unmet medical need, and we strive to understand where there are unique opportunities to change the path of disease," 2seventy CSO Philip Gregory said in a statement. "We then undertake a deliberate process to devise an engineered solution that relies on the robust toolbox of targeting, signaling, and enhancement technologies that we have established through our extensive experience and partnerships across industry and academia."
The company has a cell therapy manufacturing network via partnerships with academic centers and industry. There are plans to build internal clinical cell therapy manufacturing capabilities at 2seventy's Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters.