No ASCO glory for Caribou

When titles for this year's ASCO conference were unveiled on Wednesday Caribou's allogeneic anti-CD19 Car-T project CB-010 was notable by its absence, and now the company has confirmed the worst. Not only has a make-or-break update to CB-010's Antler study not made ASCO, it has been delayed to the second half. Caribou also revealed the discontinuation of the anti-CLL-1 project CB-012, a delay to the BCMA-targeting CB-011, and the axing of another 32% of its workforce. This is designed to stretch cash by a year, into the second half of 2027, and follows last year's discontinuation of Car-NK work and 12% job cull. The Antler update is a key test of whether a controversial HLA-matching strategy can improve CB-010, which so far looks worse than marketed autologous Cars. While Caribou is putting its bad news down to "challenges in the current market environment", investors will note that Antler is open label, so it's possible that the company has failed to see desired efficacy and is awaiting more data in the hope of something better. Caribou has also scrapped plans to take CB-010 into lupus, marking one of the shortest ever flirtations with autoimmune disease for a Car-T player.

More delays for Caribou's allogeneic cell therapies

Source: OncologyPipeline.