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Why is Kite Pharma (KITE) Stock Soaring Today?

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On Monday, shares of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Kite Pharma Inc. are soaring, up over 12% in afternoon trading after the company announced results from SCHOLAR-1 (Retrospective Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Research).

SCHOLAR-1 is the first large, systematic, multi-institutional, patient-level meta-analysis of outcomes from 635 patients with chemorefractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The study demonstrated that patients who suffer from chemorefractory disease (a disease that does not respond to chemotherapy-based regimens) have steadily poor outcomes, regardless of refractory subgroup, line of therapy, or disease stage.

“These study results are important because they confirm the regrettable outcomes that have been observed in the clinical setting for people with this difficult-to-treat form of DLBCL,” said Dr. John Kuruvilla, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and a clinical investigator in the Department of Medical Oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

Kuruvilla continues, “While DLBCL is considered curable with initial chemotherapy-based treatment, patients with chemorefractory DLBCL have limited-to-no treatment options and historically poor outcomes, underscoring the significant need for new therapies.”

“Little is known about the outcomes of people with chemorefractory DLBCL, leaving a large gap in the treatment landscape. These data help to track the course of the disease and provide an important historical benchmark for studies in this patient population,” said David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., Kite’s Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer.

DLBCL is the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), accounting for one out of every three cases of NHL. It is estimated that roughly 26,000 people will be diagnosed with DLBCL in the United States in this year.

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