On Nov. 28, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was opening an investigation into the possibility of previously unknown serious safety risks associated with the hottest and most technological group of cancer medicines produced to date. Now, drugmakers including (NYSE: NVS), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) are on the hot seat, with their patients' well-being and billions of dollars in revenue on the line.

But what exactly are regulators probing, and how much will it matter for these companies in the long term?

The FDA is concerned about chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapies. Recent reports suggest that certain cancer patients treated with CAR T-cell therapies ultimately developed lymphoma, or other closely related T-cell malignancies, as a result of treatment.

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Source Fool.com