April 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug

Administration on Friday allowed the use of Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY )

and 2seventybio's cell therapy Abecma in less

severely affected patients with a type of blood cancer.

The decision comes after a panel of expert advisers voted in

favor of Abecma's use as an earlier treatment for multiple

myeloma, a common form of cancer that affects older adults.

Abecma is already approved in the U.S. to treat patients

with multiple myeloma who have received four or more prior lines

of treatment.

The health regulator is also reviewing cancer cell therapy,

Carvykti, from Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) and its partner Legend

Biotech ( LEGN ) for use in less severely affected patients.

The FDA is set to make its decision for the same by April 5.

Abecma and Carvykti belong to a class of treatments known as

chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies that work by

modifying white blood cells known as T-cells to attack cancer.