Cartesian Therapeutics inks licensing deal to advance in vivo autoimmune CAR-T pipeline
Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC) announced a strategic licensing agreement with WestGene Biopharma to co-develop innovative in vivo mRNA chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, marking a significant expansion of its clinical efforts to target severe autoimmune conditions.
The collaboration seeks to engineer an "off-the-shelf" treatment paradigm by merging Cartesian’s specialized Descartes-08 mRNA payload with WestGene’s proprietary, tissue-targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery platform.
Unlike traditional ex vivo CAR-T therapies, which require harvesting, genetically modifying, and re-infusing a patient's cells outside the body, an in vivo approach is designed to deliver the mRNA payload directly into the patient's bloodstream.
The target immune cells are then reprogrammed inside the body, potentially eliminating the high costs, manufacturing delays, and intensive pre-treatment conditioning regimens typically associated with cell therapies.
Under the terms of the agreement, the initial development vector will focus on treating patients suffering from generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disorder characterized by fluctuating muscle weakness and severe fatigue.
The companies finalized a clear clinical road map, scheduling the initiation of a Phase 1 clinical trial in the second half of 2026, with initial safety and biomarkers data expected to read out in the first half of 2027.
The partnership arrives as the biotechnology sector increasingly pivots toward utilizing cell therapies for immunology.
By utilizing transient mRNA rather than permanent viral DNA integration, Cartesian aims to mitigate long-term safety concerns such as genomic toxicity while leveraging WestGene's LNP architecture to maximize therapeutic delivery directly to relevant immune cell populations.
