First In Vivo CAR-M Lead Candidate Nominated Under Carisma-Moderna Collaboration
First lead candidate to address a solid tumor indication with significant unmet medical need
Supportive pre-clinical proof of concept data reported at SITC 2023 that demonstrated feasibility, tolerability and early efficacy of in vivo CAR-M therapy utilizing mRNA/LNPs in solid tumors
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Carisma Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CARM) (“Carisma” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies, today announced the nomination of its first lead candidate under the collaboration with Moderna, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNA). This first lead candidate will target an antigen present on a solid tumor with significant unmet medical need. This strategic collaboration brings together Carisma’s chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) platform with Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technologies to generate and develop in vivo CAR-M therapeutics for oncology.
“Following the compelling pre-clinical proof of concept data shared at SITC 2023, we believe in vivo CAR-M therapeutics that utilize Moderna’s mRNA/LNPs have the potential to benefit patients with a broad variety of cancers,” stated Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Carisma. “The delivery of this first candidate demonstrates our ability to create novel in vivo CAR therapies that can be advanced toward the clinic. We are proud of the significant contributions made by both of the scientific teams at Carisma and Moderna towards this exciting program. We look forward to completing IND-enabling studies with the lead candidate and are excited about the prospect of bringing this therapy forward for patients with advanced solid tumors together with Moderna.”
Lin Guey, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Therapeutics Research Ventures and Biotherapeutics at Moderna, stated, “We are excited with the progress we’ve made to advance in vivo cell therapy (CAR-M) in collaboration with Carisma. Combining Carisma’s deep expertise in myeloid cell biology with our mRNA/LNP platform has allowed us to quickly advance the first lead candidate and we look forward to furthering its development, along with our continued collaboration with Carisma to develop novel therapies to treat patients.”
Pre-clinical proof of concept data were recently presented at SITC 2023, demonstrating the feasibility, efficacy, and tolerability of the in vivo CAR-M platform that utilizes Moderna’s optimized mRNA encapsulated in LNPs and is designed to redirect endogenous myeloid cells to exert targeted anti-tumor activity. The highlighted data demonstrated that Carisma’s CAR-M therapy can be directly produced in vivo, or within the body, and can successfully redirect endogenous myeloid cells against tumor-associated antigens using Moderna’ mRNA/LNPs. This novel approach to cancer immunotherapy offers an off-the-shelf solution that has the potential to increase access to CAR-based therapies and to be the basis of any CAR-M programs discovered or developed under the Carisma and Moderna collaboration.
About Carisma
Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing our proprietary macrophage and monocyte cell engineering platform to develop transformative immunotherapies to treat cancer and other serious diseases. We have created a comprehensive, differentiated proprietary cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages and monocytes, cells that play a crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune response. Carisma is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit www.carismatx.com.
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SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.