CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Moderna Inc.
(NASDAQ: MRNA), a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA
(mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, and Carisma Therapeutics Inc., a
biopharmaceutical pioneer in engineered macrophage-based
therapeutics, today announced that the two companies have entered
into a strategic collaboration agreement to discover, develop and
commercialize in vivo engineered chimeric antigen receptor
monocyte (CAR-M) therapeutics for the treatment of cancer.
"We are excited to begin this collaboration with Carisma to
further expand our oncology pipeline with a differentiated in
vivo cell-therapy approach," said Stephen Hoge, President of Moderna. "This
exemplifies our strategy to partner with companies with deep
biological expertise while leveraging Moderna's core mRNA and LNP
capabilities to further expand the reach of Moderna's
technology."
"Moderna's deep expertise in mRNA and LNP technologies opens up
a potentially game-changing opportunity for engineered
macrophages," said Steven Kelly,
President and Chief Executive Officer of Carisma. "In vivo
delivery directly to monocytes and macrophages enables an
off-the-shelf therapeutic approach that uses the patients' own
cells to provide a truly personalized treatment. By combining
Carisma's expertise in engineered macrophage biology and Moderna's
pioneering in vivo mRNA delivery technologies, we are
excited about the potential of this novel therapeutic approach for
treating cancer. We are thrilled to be working with Moderna."
About the Collaboration
Under the terms of the agreement, Carisma will receive a
$45 million up-front cash payment and
an investment by Moderna in the form of a $35 million convertible note. Carisma will
receive research funding and is eligible to receive development,
regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties on
net sales of any products that are commercialized under the
agreement. Carisma will be responsible for the discovery and
optimization of development candidates while Moderna will lead the
clinical development and commercialization of therapeutics
resulting from the agreement. Moderna has the option to
nominate up to twelve targets for development and
commercialization.
About Moderna
In 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a
research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger
RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of
vaccines and therapeutics across six modalities, a broad
intellectual property portfolio in areas including mRNA and lipid
nanoparticle formulation, and an integrated manufacturing plant
that allows for both clinical and commercial production at scale
and at unprecedented speed. Moderna maintains alliances with a
broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial
collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both
groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most
recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the
authorized use of one of the earliest and most-effective vaccines
against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic
and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing,
and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for
infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular
diseases and auto-immune diseases. Moderna has been named a top
biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past seven years. To
learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
About Carisma Therapeutics
Carisma is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing a
differentiated and proprietary cell therapy platform focused on
engineered macrophages, cells that play a crucial role in both the
innate and adaptive immune response. The first applications of the
platform, developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, are autologous chimeric
antigen receptor (CAR)-macrophages for the treatment of solid
tumors. Carisma is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA.
For more information, please visit www.carismatx.com
Moderna Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, as amended, including regarding: Moderna's collaboration with
Carisma to discover, develop and commercialize CAR-M therapeutics
for the treatment of cancer; the terms of that collaboration; and
the potential for the collaboration to lead to personalized cancer
treatments. The forward-looking statements in this press release
are neither promises nor guarantees, and you should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of
which are beyond Moderna's control and which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, and
other factors include those risks and uncertainties described under
the heading "Risk Factors" in Moderna's most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and in subsequent filings made by Moderna with the SEC, which
are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Except as
required by law, Moderna disclaims any intention or responsibility
for updating or revising any forward-looking statements contained
in this press release in the event of new information, future
developments or otherwise. These forward-looking statements are
based on Moderna's current expectations and speak only as of the
date hereof.
Moderna Contacts:
Media:
Colleen Hussey
Director, Corporate Communications
617-335-1374
Colleen.Hussey@modernatx.com
Investors:
Lavina Talukdar
Senior Vice President & Head of Investor Relations
617-209-5834
Lavina.Talukdar@modernatx.com
Carisma Media Contact:
Christina Khoury-Folkens
(929) 299-5962
ckhoury@realchemistry.com
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SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.