Caribou Biosciences Raises $115M Series C Financing to Advance Next-Generation CRISPR Technologies and Allogeneic Cell Therapy Pipeline
New TAP Partner
Berkeley, CA, March 3, 2021 – Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a leading clinical-stage CRISPR genome editing biotechnology company, announced today the successful completion of an oversubscribed $115 million Series C financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to further develop the Company’s proprietary, next-generation CRISPR technology platform and to advance the Company’s pipeline of wholly-owned allogeneic immune cell therapies for oncology with best-in-class potential.
The Series C financing was co-led by new premier healthcare investors Farallon Capital Management, PFM Health Sciences, and Ridgeback Capital Investments. Additional new investors include AbbVie Ventures, Adage Capital Partners LP, Avego Bioscience Capital, Avidity Partners, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors, LifeSci Venture Partners, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Therapy Acceleration Program® (LLS TAP), Monashee Investment Management, LLC, Point72, and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management LLC.
Caribou has developed a next-generation CRISPR technology platform with substantial advantages in genome editing specificity and efficiency. The Company’s technology platform has fueled a pipeline of allogeneic cell therapies for oncology with best-in-class potential including enhanced persistence of its off-the-shelf cell therapies that is expected to drive the clinical durability of effect in multiple malignancies.
CB-010, Caribou’s lead allogeneic CAR-T cell program, targets CD19 and is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with relapsed/refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It is the first clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy in which PD-1 was genetically disrupted in the CAR-T genome, leading to more durable anti-tumor activity in pre-clinical studies. CB-011, Caribou’s second allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy, targets BCMA for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and is immunologically cloaked for enhanced persistence. CB-012, Caribou’s third allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy, targets CD371 for the treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia.