UPDATE 1-Bristol-Myers, bluebird therapy for multiple myeloma succeeds in mid-stage trial

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and bluebird bio Inc said on Friday their experimental therapy for a type of multiple myeloma met the main goal in a mid-stage study. The study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the therapy, Ide-cel, in patients who had received three prior treatments for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells, the companies said. The therapy belongs to a class of drugs known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy or CAR-T, which involves drawing white blood cells from a patient, processing them in the lab to target cancer, and infusing the cells back into the patient.