Rocket Pharmaceuticals Announces FDA Approval of KRESLADI™ for Pediatric Patients with Severe Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency-I (LAD-I)

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On Mar. 27, 2026, Rocket Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has granted accelerated approval for KRESLADI™ (marnetegragene autotemcel), an autologous hematopoietic stem cell-based gene therapy indicated for the treatment of pediatric patients with severe leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I (LAD-I) due to biallelic variants in ITGB2 without an available human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling donor for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on increase in neutrophil CD18 and CD11a surface expression. Confirmation of clinical benefit will be based on the evaluation of longer-term follow-up data of treated patients in the ongoing clinical study and through a post-marketing registry.

With the approval of KRESLADI, the FDA granted Rocket a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (PRV), a program designed to encourage development of therapies for rare pediatric diseases. The Company intends to evaluate strategic options to monetize the PRV in a manner designed to enhance financial flexibility and maximize shareholder value.

LAD-I is an ultra-rare genetic pediatric disease caused by mutations in the ITGB2 gene encoding for CD18, a key protein that is expressed along CD11 integrins to facilitate leukocyte adhesion to the blood vessel wall and migration to tissues to confine and clear infections and orchestrate wound repair.

Patients with severe LAD-I typically show very diminished CD11a expression. Infants with severe LAD-I suffer from recurrent, life-threatening bacterial, and fungal infections that respond poorly to antimicrobials and require frequent hospitalizations. In the U.S., the incidence of LAD-I is estimated to range from approximately one in 100,000 to one in 200,000 live births, with roughly two-thirds of affected patients classified as having the severe form of the disease.

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Source: Rocket Pharma
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