Just a few months after dumping its lead asset and cutting its workforce in half, Cargo Therapeutics is jettisoning even more of its load. The CAR-T firm is dropping its B-cell disease prospect CRG-023 and suspending development of its allogeneic platform, along with cutting around 90% of its workforce.
The company’s board has appointed Anup Radhakrishnan, Cargo’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer as interim CEO to lead the company towards a reverse merger or other business combination, Cargo announced in a post-market March 18 release.
Radhakrishnan replaces outgoing CEO Gina Chapman, who is departing along with other undisclosed members of the executive team, according to the release. Cargo had $368.1 million on hand at the end of 2024.
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“In connection with the company’s review of strategic options, the board has concluded that it is in the best interests of shareholders to cease development operations,” John Orwin, Cargo’s board chairman, said in the release. “Our priority moving forward is to maximize value for shareholders while aiming to find a permanent home for our remaining assets for the benefit of patients, and to do both in an expeditious manner.”
Cargo had expected to start a phase 1 dose escalation study of CRG-023 in the coming months and to select a lead vector candidate for its allogeneic platform, according to a Jan. 29 release.
The cessation of the CRG-023 and allogeneic platform programs, following the January discontinuation of lead asset iricabtagene autoleucel (firi-cel), leaves Cargo’s pipeline bare.
Firi-cel is an autologous CD22 CAR-T cell therapy that was in development for patients with large B-cell lymphoma. Cargo shelved the asset after patients in its phase 2 trial began experiencing serious side effects, including 18% who developed grade 3 or higher immune effector cell-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis-like syndrome (IEC-HS). An undisclosed number of patients in the trial died from IEC-HS.
The loss of firi-cel came with a 50% workforce reduction, which Cargo said at the time would enable savings it expected to extend its cash runway to mid-2028.
Cargo funded the failed firi-cel trial with proceeds from its 2023 IPO, which raised about $291 million. The company first launched in March 2022 with $200 million.