Drug developer Atara says cancer therapy trial paused after patient death

(Reuters) - Atara Biotherapeutics Inc said on Friday that enrolment in an early-stage study of its experimental cancer therapy had been paused after a patient died, sending shares of the drug developer down 12%.

The trial testing the CAR-T cell therapy, ATA2271, was voluntarily paused by Atara's partner, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, after a fatal serious adverse event.

Atara said the institute has notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is gathering more information about the case, with more updates expected in the coming weeks.

CAR-T therapies work by harvesting a patient's own disease-fighting T-cells, genetically engineering them to target specific proteins on cancer cells, and replacing them to seek out and attack cancer.

The company said the first six patients enrolled in the two lowest dose groups had no serious toxicities that prevented an increase in dosage, and the patient who died was the first in a third, higher-dose cohort.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)