What happened
Shares of clinical-stage biotech company Caribou Biosciences (CRBU -1.33%) were up more than 58% as of 11:15 a.m. ET on Thursday after Pfizer (PFE 0.55%) made a $25 million equity investment in the company. The healthcare stock is up more than 3% so far this year.
So what
Caribou focuses on CRISPR gene-editing therapies. On Thursday, the company said Pfizer bought nearly 4.7 million shares of Caribou on June 29 at $5.33 a share as part of a securities purchase agreement that closed on June 30. Caribou said it will use the money to finance the development of its pipeline.
The pipeline includes two lead candidates: CB-010, used to treat patients with relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and CB-011, an immune-cloaked allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy in a phase 1 trial to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The move by Pfizer shows confidence in Caribou's pipeline and potentially signals a buyout down the road.
Now what
Caribou's growing pipeline also includes CB-012, an allogeneic anti-CD371 CAR-T cell therapy to treat relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, and CB-020, an allogeneic CAR-NK cell therapy to treat various solid tumors. Prior to the Pfizer deal, Caribou reported at the end of the first quarter that it had $291 million in cash, enough to fund operations into 2025.
Clinical-stage biotechs are often risky investments. Prospective investors may want to see how several anticipated milestones come out this year. Caribou said it expects in the second half of the year to have a safety and efficacy update on a phase 1 trial for CB-010, a dose escalation update for CB-011's phase 1 clinical trial, and an individual new drug application for CB-012 for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid myeloma.
