Caribou Biosciences Shuts Down After Failing to Secure Trial Funding

Caribou Biosciences is shutting down after failing to raise the money needed to fund a late-stage clinical trial of its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy for lymphoma, STAT News reported on Tuesday. The Berkeley, California, biotech firm is discontinuing the clinical development of its two CRISPR-based CAR-T therapies, including vispa-cel for treating advanced B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. [1]

STAT News reported that over the past year, Caribou Biosciences had worked successfully with the Food and Drug Administration to finalize plans for its research. The company was founded in 2011 in Berkeley, California, as a biopharmaceutical firm focused on advancing CRISPR-based genome editing for therapeutic use. Biochemist and structural biologist Rachel Haurwitz co-founded the company and served as its chief executive officer and president. [1][2][4]

Caribou Biosciences was borne from the research lab of CRISPR scientist Jennifer Doudna, STAT News reported. Doudna is a biochemist who serves as the Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997. She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Emmanuelle Charpentier for developing a method for genome editing. [1][3]

The company developed next-generation CAR-T therapies that are allogeneic, meaning they are off-the-shelf products. These treatments offer potential advantages over autologous approaches by improving scalability, reducing manufacturing time, and enabling broader patient access. Its technology platform uses hybrid RNA-DNA guide molecules to enhance editing specificity and reduce off-target effects in engineered cell therapies. [1][4]