Cartesian Therapeutics Licenses In Vivo CAR-T Platform to Westgene, Clinical Trial to Start 2H 2026
RNAC is trading near its 52-week low of $5.6 (13% above the low).
Summary
Cartesian Therapeutics announced a strategic licensing agreement with Westgene Biopharma to accelerate the development of its in vivo CAR-T platform for autoimmune diseases. Westgene will receive upfront and potential milestone payments under the agreement. This partnership advances a key pipeline asset, with a clinical trial for Descartes-8 mRNA in Myasthenia Gravis expected to start in the second half of 2026, and in-human data anticipated in the first half of 2027. This follows the company's recent securing of a $50 million credit facility in May, which bolstered liquidity after a challenging Q1 2026. The initiation of the clinical trial in 2H 2026 and the subsequent data readout in 1H 2027 will be key milestones.
At the time of this announcement, RNAC was trading at $6.34 on NASDAQ in the Life Sciences sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $172.2M. The 52-week trading range was $5.60 to $15.57. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Reuters.