Shares of 2seventy bio (NASDAQ:TSVT) lost ~16% in the premarket Wednesday after the cancer drug developer and its partner Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) announced plans to discontinue enrollment in an ongoing Phase 3 trial for their T cell immunotherapy,

KarMMa-9 trial for Abecma, saving $80 million and focusing on profitability by 2025. Despite the decision, the company expects strong growth following FDA approval in April.

TSVT announced that it will discontinue enrollment in its ongoing phase III KarMMa-9 study.The study is evaluating Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel; ide-cel) with Revlimid (lenalidomide) maintenance versus lenalidomide maintenance alone in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) who have a suboptimal response to autologous stem cell transplant.

Despite being open for over a year across 18 countries, the trial managed to recruit only 10% of its target population.

Bristol Myers Squibb’s struggling CAR-T therapy Abecma has hit a major setback. | Bristol Myers Squibb’s CAR-T therapy Abecma has hit a major setback. Bristol and its partner 2seventy bio have decided to pull the plug on the phase 3 KarMMa-9 trial in first-line myeloma after struggling to enroll patients.