Rocket Pharmaceuticals Announces First Patient Treated in Phase 1/2 Registrational Trial of RP-L201 for LAD-I

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RCKT) (“Rocket”), a leading U.S.-based multi-platform clinical-stage gene therapy company, today announces that the first patient received investigational therapy in the open-label, Phase 1/2 clinical trial of RP-L201. RP-L201 is the Company’s lentiviral vector (LVV)-based gene therapy for the treatment of severe Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I) that was in-licensed from the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT: Madrid, Spain). The lentiviral vector was developed in a collaboration between The University College of London (UCL) and CIEMAT. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Mattel Children’s Hospital, is the lead U.S. clinical research center under the leadership of Donald B. Kohn, M.D. Dr. Kohn is Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology), Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, and is principal investigator of the trial.

“We are excited to commence patient dosing in our Phase 1/2 trial of RP-L201 in support of registration, as it not only offers hope for very young patients and families affected by this devastating disease, but also a potential first path to approval for Rocket’s gene therapy platform,” said Gaurav Shah, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Rocket. “LAD-I represents a major area of unmet medical need as most severely-afflicted patients die before the age of 2 in the absence of a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, which is associated with graft-versus-host disease. Our hope is that patients would benefit from a one-time administration of autologous gene therapy facilitated with busulfan conditioning. This process does not require immunosuppression and eliminates the risk of graft-versus-host disease.”

The non-randomized, open-label Phase 1/2 trial is expected to enroll nine pediatric patients globally. The Phase 1 portion of the trial is expected to enroll two patients and will assess the safety and tolerability of RP-L201. The Phase 2 portion of the trial will evaluate overall survival at multiple sites globally (U.S. and E.U.). Further information about the clinical program is available here.

About Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I

Severe Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I) is a rare, autosomal recessive pediatric disease caused by a mutation of the ITGB2 gene that encodes for the beta-2 integrin component CD18. CD18 is a key protein that facilitates leukocyte adhesion and extravasation from blood vessels to combat infections. As a result, children with severe LAD-I are often affected immediately after birth. During infancy, they suffer from recurrent life-threatening bacterial infections that respond poorly to antibiotics and require frequent hospitalizations. Children who survive infancy experience recurrent severe infections including pneumonia, gingival ulcers, necrotic skin ulcers, and septicemia. Without a successful bone marrow transplant, mortality in patients with severe LAD-I is 60-75% prior to the age of 2 and survival beyond the age of 5 is exceedingly rare. The unmet medical need for patients with severe LAD-I is therefore significant.