Umoja Secures $100M For In Vivo CAR-T Therapies
Umoja Biopharma has secured $100 million in an oversubscribed Series C funding round. Based in Seattle, Washington, and founded in 2019, Umoja focuses on developing technologies to expand the accessibility and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Umoja was established to address challenges in traditional CAR-T therapies, including limited effectiveness in solid tumors, lengthy manufacturing processes, and high costs. Since its inception, the company has raised substantial funding, including $53 million in its initial round in 2020 and $210 million in 2021. This latest funding will support clinical trials, pipeline expansion, and further development of its proprietary in vivo cell therapy platforms.
Umoja’s announcement highlighted plans to prioritize UB-VV400, a surface-engineered lentiviral vector designed to generate CD22-targeted CAR-T cells directly within patients. The Series C funds will support clinical studies for UB-VV400 in both oncology and autoimmune indications. The announcement also mentioned UB-VV111, a preclinical CD19-focused CAR-T therapy for blood cancers, which stems from a collaboration with AbbVie in 2024. Both candidates were developed using Umoja’s VivoVec platform.
Umoja’s platforms aim to overcome the limitations of ex vivo CAR-T manufacturing by focusing on in vivo approaches:
- VivoVec: A lentiviral vector system enabling the generation of CAR-T cells directly within a patient’s body. This method serves to remove the need for lengthy and complex ex vivo manufacturing.
- RACR/CAR: A Rapamycin-Activated Cytokine Receptor system that uses rapamycin to support CAR-T cell survival and expansion, bypassing the need for chemotherapy-based lymphodepletion.
- iCIL: A platform for generating cytotoxic lymphocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells to complement VivoVec-generated CAR-T cells.
- TumorTag: A technology that tags tumor and stromal cells, enabling precise CAR-T targeting and flexibility for use with a range of cancer therapies.
Pipeline
Apart from the aforementioned UB-VV400 and UB-VV111, Umoja’s pipeline includes additional programs targeting oncology and autoimmune diseases. Internal programs feature UB-TT170, the only clinical-stage candidate, which is a TumorTag-based therapy currently in a Phase 1 trial for solid tumors.
Umoja’s programs address a range of indications with distinct targets. For solid tumors, the pipeline includes candidates focusing on multiple pathways, folate receptors, and PSMA. In non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and autoimmune diseases, other candidates target CD20. Additionally, the pipeline includes a program for multiple myeloma with an undisclosed target.
Manufacturing
To support its development efforts, Umoja operates The CLIMB (Colorado Laboratory & Innovative Manufacturing Building), a 146,000-square-foot facility in Louisville, Colorado. Opened in October 2023, the facility specializes in lentiviral vector production and process development for clinical trials through Phase 2.
Led by Co-founder and CTO Ryan Crisman and General Manager Sally Dyer, the manufacturing team includes experts from organizations such as Amgen, Novartis, and Bristol Myers Squibb. The facility enables Umoja to reduce supply chain risks, improve scalability, and maintain flexibility in vector production.
Looking ahead, Umoja plans to use the Series C funds to advance its clinical-stage programs, including UB-VV400, and further develop its preclinical pipeline. By focusing on in vivo approaches, the company aims to address key limitations in CAR-T therapies and expand their potential application to solid tumors and autoimmune diseases.
Cover: The Colorado Laboratory & Innovative Manufacturing Building (Source: Umoja Biopharma)
Topics: Novel Therapeutics
