CRANBURY, N.J. — Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT), a fully integrated, late-stage biotechnology company advancing a sustainable pipeline of genetic therapies for rare disorders with high unmet need, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the resubmission of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for KRESLADI™ (marnetegragene autotemcel; marne-cel), a lentiviral vector (LV)-based investigational gene therapy for severe Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), a rare genetic immune disorder that predisposes patients to recurrent and fatal infections and is near-uniformly fatal in childhood without an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant. The PDUFA date set by the FDA is March 28, 2026.
“We value the continued dialogue with the FDA and believe the BLA moves Rocket closer to our goal of delivering a one-time gene therapy to patients facing the devastating effects of severe LAD-I. For these patients, survival beyond childhood is uncommon. Bone marrow transplant is currently the only treatment option, has substantial morbidity, mortality, and cost, and may not be available in time for these children,” said Gaurav Shah, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Rocket Pharma. “As we approach our new PDUFA date, we are focused on the opportunity to make this therapy available to patients who need it most.”
The BLA is supported by positive clinical efficacy and safety data from the global Phase 1/2 study of KRESLADI™, which demonstrated 100% overall survival at 12 months post-infusion (and for the entire duration of follow-up) for all enrolled patients. All primary and secondary endpoints were met, and KRESLADI™ was well tolerated in all patients with no treatment-related serious adverse events. The data showed substantial reductions in the incidence of significant infections compared to pre-treatment levels, along with evidence of improvement in skin lesions and restoration of wound-healing capabilities.
Rocket is eligible for a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV), should KRESLADI™ be approved.
About KRESLADI™ (marnetegragene autotemcel; marne-cel)
KRESLADI™ is an investigational gene therapy that contains autologous (patient-derived) hematopoietic stem cells that have been genetically modified with a lentiviral (LV) vector to deliver a functional copy of the ITGB2 gene, which encodes for the beta-2 integrin component CD18, a key protein that facilitates leukocyte adhesion and enables their extravasation from blood vessels to fight infection.
Rocket holds FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT), Rare Pediatric, and Fast Track designations in the U.S., PRIME and Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) designations in the EU, and Orphan Drug designations in both regions for the program. KRESLADI™ was in-licensed from the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz. The lentiviral vector was developed in a collaboration between University College London and CIEMAT.
About Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I
Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I) is an ultra-rare, autosomal recessive pediatric disease caused by mutations in the ITGB2 gene encoding for the beta-2 integrin component CD18. CD18 is a key protein that facilitates leukocyte adhesion to the blood vessel wall and migration to tissues to confine and clear infections and orchestrate wound repair. As a result, children with severe LAD-I have high unmet need and are often affected immediately after birth. During infancy, they suffer from recurrent life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections that respond poorly to antimicrobials and require frequent hospitalizations. Approximately 61-69% of children with LAD-I are classified as severe cases of LAD-I. Survival beyond childhood is uncommon, with approximately 60-75% of patients dying before age two in the absence of a transplant procedure. Children with severe LAD-I who survive infancy experience recurrent life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections; intractable, nonhealing skin lesions; and chronic inflammation including severe periodontitis.
About Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT) is a fully integrated, late-stage biotechnology company advancing a sustainable pipeline of investigational genetic therapies designed to correct the root cause of complex and rare disorders. Rocket’s innovative multi-platform approach allows us to design the optimal gene therapy for each indication, creating potentially transformative options that enable people living with devastating rare diseases to experience long and full lives.
Rocket’s adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector-based cardiovascular portfolio includes a late-stage clinical program for Danon Disease, a devastating heart failure condition resulting in thickening of the heart, and an early-stage clinical program for PKP2-arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a life-threatening heart failure disease causing ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Rocket has also received IND clearance for its AAV-based gene therapy for BAG3-associated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart failure condition that causes enlarged ventricles.
Rocket’s lentiviral (LV) vector-based hematology portfolio consists of late-stage programs for Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I), a severe pediatric genetic disorder that causes recurrent and life-threatening infections which are frequently fatal, Fanconi Anemia (FA), a difficult-to-treat genetic disease that leads to bone marrow failure (BMF) and potentially cancer, and Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PKD), a monogenic red blood cell disorder resulting in increased red cell destruction and mild to life-threatening anemia.
For more information about Rocket, please visit www.rocketpharma.com and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, and X.
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