Cell therapy
Sana Biotechnology is looking to start clinical development for its type 1 diabetes therapy SC451 this year.
Dozens of biotechs reported earnings this week. BioSpace recaps key highlights from Capricor Therapeutics, Legend Biotech, Inovio and Allogene.
After the FDA’s first-ever public listening meeting on data-sharing in the cell and gene therapy space, new draft guidance aims to standardize the practice. But recent decisions call into question whether shared evidence and prior knowledge will accelerate development in rare diseases.
Analysts expect the market for manufacturing cell and gene therapies, worth less than $20 billion in 2024, to expand rapidly as approvals drive higher volumes of production.
Stylus Medicine, a member of BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2026, launched in May 2025 to develop new, less complex genetic medicines. The company’s in vivo approach has attracted “intense” interest from Big Pharma.
The rejection of Atara Biotherapeutics’ Ebvallo in January was a “complete reversal” of the conesensus FDA reviewers had come to, according to a former agency employee, who said manufacturing problems were the only approvability barrier for the drug.
The centerpiece of the takeover is anito-cel, a CAR T therapy under development for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. An FDA decision on the therapy is expected by December 2026.
The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is “part of a disturbing pattern” of moving regulatory goalposts, according to Clay Alspach, executive director of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines. Meanwhile, streamlined communications with regulators in other countries pave the way for rapid uptake of novel modalities.
The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is part of a larger communications crisis unfolding at the agency over the past nine months that has also ensnarled Sarepta, Capricor, uniQure and many more.
A recurring theme Tuesday morning at Phacilitate’s Advanced Therapies Week was the quickly emerging potential of in vivo approaches to cell and gene therapy—a trend also reflected in recent investments by Eli Lilly and Regeneron.
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