SAN MATEO, Calif., Dec. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CARGO Therapeutics, Inc. (CRGX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company uniquely positioned to advance next generation, potentially curative cell therapies for cancer patients, today announced the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of distinguished experts in cancer research, immunology, and CAR T-cell therapy. The SAB will be chaired by Robbie Majzner, MD, co-founder of CARGO and Director of the Pediatric and Young Adult Cancer Cell Therapy Program within the Departments of Pediatric Oncology and Medical Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital. The SAB will provide strategic counsel and critical expertise as CARGO advances its mission to develop the next generation of transformational CAR T-cell therapies.

“The formation of our distinguished SAB reaffirms our commitment to advance innovative cell therapies designed to address resistance mechanisms and increase the length of time that patients remain in remission,“ said Michael Ports, PhD, CARGO’s Chief Scientific Officer. “We look forward to leveraging the collective expertise of our SAB as we advance our platform technologies and our pipeline of next-generation, potentially transformative CAR T-cell therapies to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those affected by cancer."

CARGO’s programs, platform technologies, and manufacturing strategy are designed to directly address the limitations of approved autologous CAR T-cell therapies, including limited durability, safety concerns and manufacturing supply constraints. The SAB will play a critical role in supporting CARGO’s research and development priorities as the company builds upon the development of its lead program CRG-022, an autologous CD22 directed CAR T-cell product, by leveraging their proprietary platform technologies, including engineered CD2 co-stimulation technology, to enable the development of multi-specific and multi-functional cellular therapy candidates that are engineered to address mechanisms that strongly associate with poor response and disease progression.

“The SAB stands out by bringing together several highly accomplished translational investigators each with CAR T-cell experience that bridges both the laboratory and the clinic,” said Robbie Majzner, MD, co-founder of CARGO and Scientific Advisory Board Chair. “They are uniquely suited to advise CARGO on their scientific goals and directions that will lead to better outcomes for patients.”

Members of the CARGO Scientific Advisory Board are listed below; full bios are available on the CARGO website. 

• Robbie Majzner, MD, co-founder of CARGO and Scientific Advisory Board Chair, and Director of the Pediatric and Young Adult Cancer Cell Therapy Program within the Departments of Pediatric Oncology and Medical Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital
• Stephen Gottschalk, MD, Chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital
• Andras Attila Heczey, MD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics of Baylor College of Medicine, Section of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
• Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, the Paula O’Keefe Chair in Oncology, Director of Cellular Immunotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, Attending Physician in the Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and Cell Therapy Division of Oncology at MGH
• Cameron Turtle, MBBS, PhD, Professor and CLEARbridge Chair in Cancer Immunotherapy in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney; Clinical academic physician at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia

About CARGO Therapeutics

CARGO Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company uniquely positioned to advance next generation, potentially curative cell therapies for cancer patients. CARGO’s programs, platform technologies, and manufacturing strategy are designed to directly address the limitations of approved cell therapies, including limited durability of effect, safety concerns and unreliable supply. CARGO is currently evaluating its lead program, CRG-022, an autologous CD22 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy candidate, in a potentially pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) whose disease relapsed or was refractory (R/R) to CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. CARGO also plans to evaluate CRG-022 in patients at earlier stages of disease, including LBCL and other hematologic malignancies. Beyond its lead program, CARGO is leveraging its proprietary cell engineering platform technologies to develop a pipeline of programs that incorporate multiple transgene therapeutic “cargo” designed to enhance CAR T-cell persistence and trafficking to tumor lesions, as well as to help safeguard against tumor resistance and T-cell exhaustion. CARGO’s founders are pioneers and world-class experts in CAR T-cell therapy, and its team has significant experience and success developing, manufacturing, launching and commercializing oncology and cell therapy products. For more information, please visit the CARGO Therapeutics website at https://cargo-tx.com/.

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