Carisma Therapeutics to Present Anti-GPC3 CAR-M Therapy Data for Liver Cancer at SITC 2024

Carisma Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative immunotherapies, has announced new pre-clinical data regarding their anti-GPC3 in vivo chimeric antigen receptor macrophage and monocyte (CAR-M) therapy. This therapy is designed to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and was developed in collaboration with Moderna, Inc. The data will be showcased in a poster session at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Houston, Texas, on November 8, 2024.

The presented abstract is titled "Pre-Clinical Efficacy of a Novel Anti-GPC3 In Vivo CAR-M for Hepatocellular Carcinoma." It offers the first pre-clinical insights into a development candidate that targets Glypican-3 (GPC3), a tumor-associated antigen often found in HCC. This innovative off-the-shelf approach aims to reprogram endogenous myeloid cells in vivo by using lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA encoding CARs. The pre-clinical data suggest that this in vivo CAR-M therapy holds significant potential as a treatment for GPC3+ solid tumors, including HCC.

Steven Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carisma, emphasized the groundbreaking potential of the in vivo CAR-M platform. He noted that the pre-clinical results demonstrate robust anti-tumor activity and pave the way for developing an off-the-shelf therapy for difficult-to-treat cancers such as hepatocellular carcinoma. Kelly expressed enthusiasm about advancing this promising therapy into clinical development.

In addition to the presentation on the anti-GPC3 in vivo CAR-M therapy, Carisma will also present another study titled "A Phase 1, First-in-Human study of autologous monocytes engineered to express an anti-HER2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) in participants with HER2 overexpressing solid tumors." Both presentations will take place on November 8, 2024, in Exhibit Halls A and B at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, and focuses on using its proprietary macrophage and monocyte cell engineering platform to develop transformative immunotherapies to treat cancer and other serious diseases. The company has created a comprehensive, differentiated cell therapy platform centered on engineered macrophages and monocytes, which play a crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune responses.

The poster presented at the SITC Annual Meeting will be available online in the "Publications" section of Carisma's website following the start of the poster session.