# Bristol Myers Discloses Septic Pneumonia Death in MS Trial

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/39871
Published: 2026-10-24T10:47:28.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-24T10:47:28.000Z
Section: Business

> The patient had highly active relapsing MS and developed late-onset, non-ICANS motor symptoms before receiving high-dose cyclophosphamide the day before death.

A participant in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Phase 1 multiple sclerosis study died of septic pneumonia 44 days after an experimental CAR T-cell infusion, with the fatal event occurring after the data cutoff.

The patient had highly active relapsing MS and received zolacabtagene autoleucel, also known as zola-cel, an investigational CAR T-cell therapy. Late-onset, non-ICANS motor symptoms persisted despite intermittent corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin. The patient then received high-dose cyclophosphamide and died the next day. The disclosed information does not establish whether zola-cel was related to the death.

The interim MS cohorts included 66 patients: 30 with highly active relapsing disease and 36 with progressive MS. Cytokine release syndrome occurred in 28 patients (42.4%); all cases resolved in a median of two days. Five patients (7.6%) had immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS). Most cases were Grade 1 or 2 and resolved in a median of two days. One Grade 4 ICANS case in a patient with progressive MS resolved within four days after corticosteroids and anakinra.

At last follow-up, all 60 patients treated at dose level 2 remained off disease-modifying therapies; nine had more than 12 months of follow-up. Across all zola-cel programs in autoimmune diseases, no additional Grade 5 events had been reported. Those programs included 190 patients treated in Phase 1 studies.