Carisma to Present First Results From in vivo CAR-M Collaboration with Moderna at SITC 2023

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Oct 25, 2023, 09:11 ET

-Late-breaking abstract to be presented on November 3^rd at 11:30 am PT highlighting pre-clinical data with Moderna

-Two additional pre-clinical data abstracts highlighting next-generation enhancements to Carisma's cell therapy platform to be shared

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carisma Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: CARM) ("Carisma" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies, today announced that new pre-clinical data leveraging an mRNA platform to develop in-vivo chimeric antigen receptor macrophage ("CAR-M") will be presented as a late-breaking abstract (#LBA1514) at the upcoming Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 38th Annual Meeting held from Wednesday, November 1, to Sunday, November 5, 2023, in San Diego, California. Two posters highlighting next-generation enhancements to Carisma's CAR-M platform, including a custom intronic shRNA approach and data on Engineered Microenvironment Converters (EM-C), will also be presented. Additionally, Carisma will share a trial-in-progress poster overviewing its Phase 1 first-in-human (FIH) study design of its lead program, CT-0508, sharing objectives and eligibility criteria.

Carisma will participate in the virtual SITC 2023 Annual Meeting Press Conference on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, from 12:00–1:30 pm PT.

"We are excited to present this pre-clinical data from our collaboration with Moderna for the first time," said Steven Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Carisma. "Over the past year, we have leveraged the expertise of both companies to pioneer the development of in-vivo mRNA/LNP-based cell therapy. The study is exploring the potential for an off-the-shelf treatment approach to enhance therapeutic benefit for patients living with cancer."

Oral & Poster Presentations:

In vivo CAR-M: Redirecting endogenous myeloid cells with mRNA for cancer immunotherapy
- Primary Author: Bindu Varghese, PhD
- Presentation Type/#: Oral – 1514
- Session Date/Time (PT): Friday, November 3, 2023, 11:30 am, Session 104: Late Breaking Abstract Session
CAR-Macrophages with custom intronic shRNA exhibit enhanced efficacy against solid tumors
- Primary Author: Chris Sloas, PhD
- Presentation Type/#: Poster – 307
- Session Date/Time: Friday, November 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Engineered Microenvironment Converters (EM-C): Macrophages expressing synthetic cytokine receptors reverse immunosuppressive signals in solid tumors
- Primary Author: Chris Sloas, PhD
- Presentation Type/#: Poster – 389
- Session Date/Time: Friday, November 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
A Phase 1, First in Human (FIH) study of autologous macrophages engineered to express an anti-HER2 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) in participants (pts) with HER2 overexpressing solid tumors
- Primary Author: Kim Reiss, MD
- Presentation Type/#: Poster – 635
- Session Date/Time: Friday, November 3, 2023, 9:00 am – 7:00 pm

Presentation and posters will be available in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC) supplement once published on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, at 9:00 am ET.

About CT-0508

CT-0508 is a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) targeted chimeric antigen receptor macrophage (CAR-M). It is being evaluated in a landmark Phase 1 multi-center clinical trial that focuses on patients with recurrent or metastatic HER2-overexpressing solid tumors whose cancers do not have approved HER2-targeted therapies or who do not respond to treatment. Carisma is selecting participants who have tumors of any anatomical origin, but with the commonality of overexpressing the HER2 receptor on the cell surface, which is the target for our CAR-M. The Phase 1 clinical trial marks the first time that engineered macrophages are being studied in humans. The trial continues to enroll patients at seven clinical sites in the U.S., including (i) Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center, (ii) the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, (iii) the City of Hope National Medical Center, (iv) the MD Anderson Cancer Center, (v) the Sarah Cannon Cancer Research Institute, (vi) Oregon Health & Science University and (vii) Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

About Carisma

Carisma Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing our proprietary macrophage and monocyte cell engineering platform to develop transformative immunotherapies to treat cancer and other serious diseases. We have created a comprehensive, differentiated proprietary cell therapy platform focused on engineered macrophages and monocytes, cells that play a crucial role in both the innate and adaptive immune response. Carisma is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, please visit www.carismatx.com.

About Moderna

In over 10 years since its inception, Moderna has transformed from a research-stage company advancing programs in the field of messenger RNA (mRNA), to an enterprise with a diverse clinical portfolio of vaccines and therapeutics across seven modalities, a broad intellectual property portfolio and integrated manufacturing facilities that allow for rapid clinical and commercial production at scale. Moderna maintains alliances with a broad range of domestic and overseas government and commercial collaborators, which has allowed for the pursuit of both groundbreaking science and rapid scaling of manufacturing. Most recently, Moderna's capabilities have come together to allow the authorized use and approval of one of the earliest and most effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moderna's mRNA platform builds on continuous advances in basic and applied mRNA science, delivery technology and manufacturing, and has allowed the development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, cardiovascular diseases and auto-immune diseases. Moderna has been named a top biopharmaceutical employer by Science for the past eight years. To learn more, visit www.modernatx.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Carisma's business, strategy, future operations, cash runway, the advancement of Carisma's product candidates and product pipeline, and clinical development of Carisma's product candidates, including expectations regarding timing of initiation and results of pre-clinical and clinical trials. The words "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goals," "intend," "may," "might," "outlook," "plan," "project," "potential," "predict," "target," "possible," "will," "would," "could," "should," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.

Any forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Carisma's actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the "Risk Factors" set forth in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 10, 2023, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in Carisma's other recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements that are made in this press release speak as of the date of this press release. Carisma undertakes no obligation to revise the forward-looking statements or to update them to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by the federal securities laws.

Media Inquiries:

Julia Stern
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SOURCE Carisma Therapeutics Inc.