Development Candidate targets Glypican-3
for the treatment of solid tumors, including hepatocellular
carcinoma
Nomination triggers a $2 million milestone payment to Carisma
PHILADELPHIA, June 27,
2024 /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 the
first development candidate ("Development Candidate"), under its
collaboration with Moderna, Inc. The Development Candidate is an
in vivo CAR-M targeting Glypican-3 ("GPC3") and is designed
to treat solid tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma ("HCC"),
the most prevalent type of liver cancer and the fastest-rising
cause of cancer-related death in the U.S. This nomination triggers
a $2 million milestone payment to
Carisma.
The nomination of this Development Candidate leverages Carisma's
expertise in engineering chimeric antigen receptor monocytes and
macrophages ("CAR-M") with Moderna's mRNA and lipid nanoparticle
platform to create a novel in vivo cell therapy for
oncology. Pre-clinical data demonstrated that the Development
Candidate can successfully create CAR-M directly in
vivo, redirecting endogenous myeloid cells to attack cancer
cells.
"The nomination of the first Development Candidate underscores
our productive collaboration with Moderna to develop mRNA-based
in vivo CAR-M cell therapies," said Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, Co-Founder and
Chief Scientific Officer at Carisma. "The Development Candidate
targets GPC3, a tumor antigen that is highly expressed in HCC. This
milestone represents a significant step forward in the development
of immunotherapies for solid tumors, and an advance for the in
vivo cell therapy field."
Lin Guey, PhD, Chief Scientific
Officer of Therapeutics Research Ventures and Biotherapeutics at
Moderna, stated, "We are thrilled with the significant progress
we've made in advancing in vivo CAR-M therapies alongside
Carisma. We eagerly anticipate further development of the nominated
candidate for patients with solid tumors, and we look forward to
continued success as we develop additional in vivo CAR-M
together to bring new therapies to patients with HCC and other
cancers."
The in vivo CAR-M program targeting GPC3 is being
developed under the 2022 strategic collaboration agreement between
Carisma and Moderna to discover, develop, and commercialize in
vivo engineered CAR-M therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
In addition to this program, Moderna has nominated four undisclosed
oncology research targets under the collaboration. Carisma is
responsible for the discovery and optimization of development
candidates, while Moderna will lead the development and
commercialization of resulting therapeutics.
About Carisma Therapeutics
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.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release about future expectations,
plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding
matters that are not historical facts, may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include,
but are not limited to, statements relating to Carisma's business,
strategy, future operations, cash runway, the advancement of
Carisma's product candidates and product pipeline, and clinical
development of Carisma's product candidates, including expectations
regarding timing of initiation and results of clinical trials. The
words "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could,"
"estimate," "expect," "goals," "intend," "may," "might," "outlook,"
"plan," "project," "potential," "predict," "target," "possible,"
"will," "would," "could," "should," and similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current
expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially and adversely from those set forth in, or implied by,
such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, (i) Carisma's ability to realize
the anticipated benefits of its pipeline reprioritization and
corporate restructuring, (ii) Carisma's ability to obtain, maintain
and protect its intellectual property rights related to its product
candidates; (iii) Carisma's ability to advance the development of
its product candidates under the timelines it anticipates in
planned and future clinical trials and with its current financial
and human resources; (iv) Carisma's ability to replicate in later
clinical trials positive results found in preclinical studies and
early-stage clinical trials of its product candidates; (v)
Carisma's ability to realize the anticipated benefits of its
research and development programs, strategic partnerships, research
and licensing programs and academic and other collaborations; (vi)
regulatory requirements or developments and Carisma's ability to
obtain and maintain necessary approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and other regulatory authorities related to its
product candidates; (vii) changes to clinical trial designs and
regulatory pathways; (viii) risks associated with Carisma's ability
to manage expenses; (ix) changes in capital resource requirements;
(x) risks related to the inability of Carisma to obtain sufficient
additional capital to continue to advance its product candidates
and its preclinical programs; and (xi) legislative, regulatory,
political and economic developments.
For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, and other
important factors, any of which could cause Carisma's actual
results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements, see the "Risk Factors" set forth in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, its Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended March 31,
2024, as well as discussions of potential risks,
uncertainties, and other important factors in Carisma's other
recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any
forward-looking statements that are made in this press release
speak as of the date of this press release. Carisma undertakes no
obligation to revise the forward-looking statements or to update
them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of
this press release, whether as a result of new information, future
developments or otherwise, except as required by the federal
securities laws.
Investors:
Shveta
Dighe
Head of Investor Relations
investors@carismatx.com
Media Contact:
Julia
Stern
(763) 350-5223
jstern@realchemistry.com
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SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.