This clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company develops allogeneic cell therapies for serious diseases using proprietary genome-editing technology. Their chRDNA platform enables precise, complex genome editing for creating "off-the-shelf" CAR-T cell therapies. The company focuses on armoring these cell therapies through strategies like immune cloaking to enhance anti-disease activity.
Funding
$125M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Product
Problem
Current CAR-T cell therapies for hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases face limitations in scalability, accessibility, and efficacy due to the reliance on autologous cell sources and challenges with tumor-induced T cell dysfunction. Manufacturing autologous CAR-T therapies is complex, time-consuming, and costly, resulting in treatment delays and restricted access for patients. Furthermore, the tumor microenvironment can induce T cell exhaustion, limiting the durability of CAR-T cell responses.
Solution
Caribou Biosciences is developing genome-edited allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies designed to overcome the limitations of autologous approaches by utilizing healthy donor cells for off-the-shelf availability. The company's proprietary CRISPR hybrid RNA-DNA (chRDNA) technology enables precise, multiplex genome editing to enhance CAR-T cell activity and persistence. Caribou's lead programs, CB-010 and CB-011, are engineered with multiple edits, including checkpoint disruption and immune cloaking strategies, to improve antitumor activity and reduce the risk of rejection. These allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies aim to provide broad access and rapid treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies, offering a potentially transformative approach to cancer therapy.
Target Audience
The primary target audience includes patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r B-NHL) and relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM) who have failed prior lines of therapy, as well as hematologists and oncologists seeking novel treatment options.
Features
- Allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies manufactured from healthy donor cells for off-the-shelf availability
- Proprietary chRDNA technology for high-fidelity, multiplex genome editing
- CB-010: Anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy with a PD-1 knockout to prevent T cell exhaustion
- CB-011: Anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy with B2M knockout and B2M–HLA-E insertion to reduce immune rejection
- Site-specific CAR insertion into the TRAC locus to eliminate random integration
- Ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials evaluating CB-010 in relapsed/refractory B-NHL (ANTLER trial) and CB-011 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (CaMMouflage trial)
- GMP-compliant manufacturing process designed for commercial scalability