STAT+: Caribou delays readout, discontinues programs, betting on off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies

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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