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Novartis Cell Therapy Unit To Close: Implications For CAR-T Could Be Big

 
• By Lucie Ellis-Taitt and Jessica Merrill

Novartis is closing its high-profile cell and gene therapy unit – the one responsible for developing CAR-T therapies. The move suggests Novartis’s outlook for the CAR-T field may be changing, though it’s not clear why.

Novartis AG's decision to disband its cell and gene therapy unit – the business responsible for developing one of the most advanced CAR-T therapies in the industry – has raised questions about the Swiss pharma’s outlook for an area of oncology research that has been thought to be groundbreaking.

It was only four years ago that Novartis in-licensed the CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) technology from the University of...

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