- Data demonstrate feasibility, tolerability,
and early efficacy of mRNA/LNP in vivo CAR-M therapy in
pre-clinical models of metastatic solid tumors
- Proof of concept achieved for platform under
the Moderna collaboration
- "In vivo CAR-M: Redirecting endogenous
myeloid cells with mRNA for cancer immunotherapy" to be
presented Friday, November 3, 2023,
at 11:30 am PT
PHILADELPHIA,
Oct. 31,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carisma Therapeutics Inc.
(Nasdaq: CARM) ("Carisma" or the "Company"), a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing
innovative immunotherapies, today announced that it will present
new findings at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 38th
Annual Meeting regarding its first-of-its-kind collaboration with
Moderna. The collaboration aims to bring together Carisma's
chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M) platform with
Moderna's mRNA and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technologies to
generate and develop in vivo CAR-M therapeutics.
Accepted as a late-breaking presentation, "In
vivo CAR-M: Redirecting endogenous myeloid cells with mRNA for
cancer immunotherapy," showcases data that demonstrate Carisma's
CAR-M therapy can be directly produced in vivo, or within
the body, successfully redirecting endogenous myeloid cells against
tumor-associated antigens using mRNA/LNP. The pre-clinical data
demonstrate feasibility, tolerability, and efficacy against
metastatic solid tumors. This novel approach to cancer
immunotherapy offers an off-the-shelf solution that has the
potential to increase access to CAR-based therapies and will be the
basis of CAR-M programs to be developed under the Carisma and
Moderna collaboration.
"The data presented at SITC is incredibly
exciting as it demonstrates that we have the ability to make
CAR-M directly in vivo with mRNA/LNP technology,
leading to robust and targeted anti-tumor activity,"
said Michael Klichinsky, PharmD, PhD, Co-Founder and
Chief Scientific Officer at Carisma. "This off-the-shelf approach
to treat cancer with engineered myeloid cells, developed in
collaboration with Moderna, has the potential to transform the CAR
field and be applied to numerous cancer targets and
indications."
"We are pleased to share data about the
successful application of our mRNA platform to advance in
vivo cell therapy," said Lin
Guey, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of External Research
Ventures at Moderna. "We look forward to the continuation of our
pre-clinical work with Carisma and are optimistic that the joint
scientific knowledge of both companies will accelerate the
development of novel in vivo CAR-M therapies for
patients."
Details of Carisma data accepted for
presentation at the SITC 38th Annual Meeting are as
follows:
- "In vivo CAR-M: Redirecting endogenous myeloid cells
with mRNA for cancer immunotherapy" presented on Friday, November 3, 2023, at 11:30 am PT
- "CAR-Macrophages with custom intronic shRNA exhibit
enhanced efficacy against solid tumors" presented on Friday, November 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
PT
- "Engineered Microenvironment Converters (EM-C): Macrophages
expressing synthetic cytokine receptors reverse immunosuppressive
signals in solid tumors" presented on Friday, November 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
PT
- "A Phase 1, First in Human (FIH) study of autologous
macrophages engineered to express an anti-HER2 chimeric antigen
receptor (CAR) in participants (pts) with HER2 overexpressing solid
tumors" presented on Friday, November 3,
2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm PT
Presentation and posters will be available on the
SITC 38th Annual Meeting portal for registered attendees.
About Carisma
Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing our proprietary
macrophage and monocyte cell engineering platform to develop
transformative immunotherapies to treat cancer and other serious
diseases. We have created a comprehensive, differentiated
proprietary cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages
and monocytes, cells that play a crucial role in both the innate
and adaptive immune response. Carisma is headquartered in
Philadelphia, PA. For more
information, please visit www.carismatx.com.
About Moderna
In over 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 seven
modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio and integrated
manufacturing facilities that allow for rapid clinical and
commercial production at scale. 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 and approval 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
eight years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking
Statements
Statements in this press release about future
expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements
regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include,
but are not limited to, statements relating to Carisma's business,
strategy, future operations, cash runway, the advancement of
Carisma's product candidates and product pipeline, and pre-clinical
and clinical development of Carisma's product candidates, including
expectations regarding timing of initiation and results of
pre-clinical and clinical trials. The words "anticipate,"
"believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate,"
"expect," "goals," "intend," "may," "might," "outlook," "plan,"
"project," "potential," "predict," "target," "possible," "will,"
"would," "could," "should," and similar expressions are intended to
identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.
Any forward-looking statements are based on
management's current expectations of future events and are subject
to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in,
or implied by, such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of
these risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of
which could cause Carisma's actual results to differ from those
contained in the forward-looking statements, see the "Risk Factors"
set forth in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 10, 2023, as well as discussions of
potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in
Carisma's other recent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this
press release speak as of the date of this press release. Carisma
undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements
or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring
after the date of this press release, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise, except as required
by the federal securities laws.
Media Inquiries:
Julia Stern
(763) 350-5223
jstern@realchemistry.com
Investor:
investors@carismatx.com
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SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.