Caribou Biosciences, Inc.

The company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative therapies for patients with devastating diseases using CRISPR genome-editing technology. Its genome-editing platform utilizes novel chRDNA (CRISPR hybrid RNA-DNA) technology, which aims to enable more precise genome editing of allogeneic cell therapies. The company's allogeneic, or off-the-shelf, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy product candidates are manufactured in advance using cells from healthy donors. These candidates are directed at CD19 and B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), which are established cell surface targets. The chRDNA technology is used to enhance the activity of cell therapy product candidates against hematologic malignancies through genome-editing strategies like checkpoint disruption and immune cloaking. The company is advancing two clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy product candidates for hematologic malignancies: Vispacabtagene regedleucel (vispa-cel, formerly CB-010), an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy, has been evaluated in patients with relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r B-NHL) in the ANTLER phase 1 clinical trial. CB-011, an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy, is being evaluated in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM) in the CaMMouflage phase 1 clinical trial. Vispa-cel has received regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) designation for relapsed or refractory large B cell lymphoma (r/r LBCL), fast track designation for r/r B-NHL, and orphan drug designation for follicular lymphoma (FL) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).