Aligned With Roche, SQZ Bio Gets $16M to Push Cell Therapies to Clinic
Summary
Aligned With Roche, SQZ Bio Gets $16M to Push Cell Therapies to Clinic Xconomy Boston — The first experimental cell-based cancer immunotherapy, known as CAR-T, could soon be submitted to the FDA for approval.In addition to the new funding, SQZ has hired Kris Elverum, a former executive with the cell therapy division Novartis recently disbanded, as its chief business officer.SQZ thinks it’s a way to arm cells to help kill cancer, and perhaps to treat autoimmune and infectious diseases, too, according to CEO Armon Sharei.Though Novartis still plans to advance its lead CAR-T product, CTL-019, the shakeup at its cell therapy division leaves the status of its efforts unclear.SQZ’s B cell-targeting method is untested in humans, but if it works, it might have some advantages to current CAR-T treatments, which can take weeks to produce and wipe out healthy B cells along with the cancerous ones.