Unum’s Antibody-Directed T Cells: Differentiated from CAR T-Cell and T Cell Receptor Reprogramming

Unum Therapeutics is a new immunotherapy biotechnology company in which Fidelity Biosciences, Atlas Ventures and Sanofi invested $12 MM in a Series A (first venture round) of investment.

Juno Advances CAR T-cell CAR017 and Halts CAR015 in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Juno Therapeutics is developing Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cells directed against B-cell antigen CD19 for the treatment of patients with B-cell lymphomas. The company has elected to halt the development of JCAR015 for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and proceed with JCAR017 for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most common form of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma […]

Engineering safety into CAR T-cells to address toxicities

Adoptive immunotherapy with engineered T-cells, for example, CAR T-cells (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) is associated with significant toxicities including cytokine release syndrome, neurologic toxicity, “on target/off tumor” recognition, and anaphylaxis. CAR T-cells lack the ability to respond to signals that maintain immune homeostasis. For this reason, they are effective relentless killers of cells that express the […]

Immunocor’s Anti-Cancer Platform Garners $320MM Private Financing

Immunocor raised $320MM in a private financing round to support its anti-cancer platform. That’s a lot of money for a single financing – in fact, it is the largest private fundraising by a European biotechnology company. What’s the attraction?