Shares of Bluebird Bio Inc. soared 71.8% in premarket trading on Monday, days after a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted in favor of two of the company’s experimental gene therapies. On Thursday, the committee voted 15-0 that the benefits of elivaldogene autotemcel as a treatment for children and teens with early cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy outweigh the risks. On Friday, the same committee voted 13-0 that the benefits of betibeglogene autotemcel as a treatment for beta thalassemia outweigh the risks. SVB Securities analyst Mani Foroohar estimates the beti-cel will have peak sales of $64 million. However, he wrote in a note to investors on Monday that “the unanimous AdComm vote is another win for Blue’s ex vivo gene therapy pipeline.” Bluebird’s stock has tumbled 61.9% so far this year, while the broader S&P 500 is down 18.1%.
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