Gene therapy bad news #1: From Pharmalittle newsletter of @statnews.com: "Bluebird Bio announced it would sell itself & its portfolio of gene therapies to the investment firms Carlyle & SK Capital for less than $30 m, in a deal that lets the beleaguered biotech avoid bankruptcy, STAT says. The sale - ThreadSky

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hankgreely.bsky.social • 5 days ago

Gene therapy bad news #1: From Pharmalittle newsletter of @statnews.com: "Bluebird Bio announced it would sell itself & its portfolio of gene therapies to the investment firms Carlyle & SK Capital for less than $30 m, in a deal that lets the beleaguered biotech avoid bankruptcy, STAT says. The sale

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hankgreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

/2 to private equity marks a quiet end for a biotech that, over the course of a dizzying decade, showcased both the power of modern genetic medicine to deliver cures for devastating rare diseases & the profound challenges any company would face in turning that power into a sustainable business.

hankgreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

/3 For more than a decade, its technology for inserting genes into blood cells could produce jaw-dropping results, seemingly curing patients of sickle cell & beta thalassemia, both blood disorders, as well as children born w/a fatal ultra-rare neurological disease called CALD. Turning those early

hankgreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

/4 results into treatments, though, proved a minefield. They were difficult to manufacture & it took yrs for Bluebird to actually show it could produce them to regulatory standards. It was also unclear if the company would be able to get the kind of reimbursement it had been seeking from governments

hankgreely.bsky.social•5 days ago

/5 and insurers."
Amazing cures, going out of business. We need a better model! Maybe the increasingly bad news will lead to openness on getting to one. Wish I had hopes for useful US federal action. Between/Medicare & Medicaid it may be essential, but I fear extreme Admin myopia (at best).

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