Caribou Biosciences Shuts Down After Failing to Fund Trial — SkimNews
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- Caribou Biosciences is shutting down after failing to raise money to fund a late-stage clinical trial of its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy for lymphoma, the company said Tuesday
- The Berkeley, Calif.-based biotech will discontinue clinical development of its two CRISPR-based CAR-T therapies, including vispa-cel for advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Caribou spent the past year successfully working with the FDA to finalize the design of a Phase 3 trial for vispa-cel before financing collapsed
- CEO Rachel Haurwitz told STAT that "raising the money to pay for the study proved too difficult"
- Caribou was borne from the research lab of CRISPR pioneer and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna
Why it matters: Patients with advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma lose a potential off-the-shelf CAR-T option, and the shutdown shows that even an FDA-aligned Phase 3 design is not enough to clear today's biotech funding bar — eroding the pipeline for next-generation CRISPR cell therapies.
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