Carisma Therapeutics nominates first candidate under collaboration with Moderna

Carisma Therapeutics (CARM) announced the nomination of the first development candidate, under its collaboration with Moderna (MRNA). The development candidate is an in vivo CAR-M targeting Glypican-3 and is designed to treat solid tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma, the most prevalent type of liver cancer and the fastest-rising cause of cancer-related death in the U.S. This nomination triggers a $2M milestone payment to Carisma. The nomination of this development candidate leverages Carisma’s expertise in engineering chimeric antigen receptor monocytes and macrophages with Moderna’s mRNA and lipid nanoparticle platform to create a novel in vivo cell therapy for oncology. Pre-clinical data demonstrated that the Development Candidate can successfully create CAR-M directly in vivo, redirecting endogenous myeloid cells to attack cancer cells. The in vivo CAR-M program targeting GPC3 is being developed under the 2022 strategic collaboration agreement between Carisma and Moderna to discover, develop, and commercialize in vivo engineered CAR-M therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Carisma is responsible for the discovery and optimization of development candidates, while Moderna will lead the development and commercialization of resulting therapeutics.