April 26, 2021 -- Carisma Therapeutics has established a multiyear scientific collaboration with Dr. Bruce Blazar of the University of Minnesota to investigate and develop allogeneic macrophage therapies.
The company is interested in expanding the potential benefits of its proprietary chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-macrophage (CAR-M) platform beyond oncology and into other disease states with unmet clinical needs.
The collaboration with Blazar represents the start of the development of allogeneic, universal donor-derived monocyte and macrophage cell therapies at Carisma, according to Michael Klichinsky, PhD, scientific co-founder and senior vice president of research at Carisma.
The focus of the partnership will be to optimize and develop induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor macrophages, which should further expand the potential of macrophage-based cell therapy for cancer and other diseases.
Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.