Caribou delays readout, betting on off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies

Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

Caribou Biosciences is delaying the readout of clinical trials involving its CRISPR T-cell therapies for blood cancer — hoping that longer follow-up will deliver enough positive data to keep the programs and the struggling biotech company alive. 

The company’s decision, announced Thursday, amounts to an all-or-nothing bet on the viability of two off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies that have, so far, failed to meet the high expectations set when Caribou emerged from the lab of CRISPR scientist and Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna. 

Once valued at $700 million, Caribou today is worth $78 million — less than its cash on hand — with a stock that trades under $1. 

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