Cargo goes from $580m float to hollow shell

It took just two months for Cargo Therapeutics to accept the inevitable, cease all development work, and preserve remaining cash in the interest of shareholders. In January Cargo crashed after its lead Car-T project, firicabtagene autoleucel, failed in the potentially registrational of Firce-1 study, but the group still thought that a pivot to the preclinical asset CRG-023 might give it a lifeline. That plan has met with zero investor enthusiasm, however; CRG-023, which hits CD19, CD20 and CD22, is also now being canned, along with 90% of remaining staff, including the chief executive, Gina Chapman. Cargo's main remaining attraction is its cash balance, $368m at the end of 2024, and status as a Nasdaq-listed shell company, which it hopes could attract a reverse merger partner "or other business combination" – a fate that befell Vincerx this week. This spells a remarkable fall from grace for Cargo, which raised $280m in a November 2023 IPO valuing it at $580m, backed by an approach pioneered by the high-profile scientist Dr Crystal Mackall. This is clearly a highly disappointing outcome, but failure is endemic in biotech, and Cargo should be commended for putting investors out of their misery relatively quickly.