Caribou Biosciences Announces Presentations at the 2026 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting

BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Caribou Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRBU) today announced that vispa-cel and CB-011 clinical abstracts have been accepted for two oral presentations and one poster presentation at the 2026 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, which will be held December 12-15, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The accepted abstracts were submitted prior to Caribou’s announcement of plans to explore strategic alternatives and discontinue further development activities for its two allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy programs, vispa-cel for the treatment of relapsed or refractory (r/r) B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and CB-011 for the treatment of r/r multiple myeloma, due to the current financing environment for allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies. Investigators will present data from both programs to share important clinical findings with the medical and scientific community.

Details of the oral presentations are as follows:

Title: Multi-year complete remissions achieved with vispa-cel, an off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapy, in patients with relapsed/refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma: an analysis of patients who are progression-free at ≥12 months (ANTLER trial)
Presenter: Mehdi Hamadani, MD, professor of medicine, section chief of hematologic malignancies at Medical College of Wisconsin, and investigator on the ANTLER trial
Date and time: Monday, December 14, 2026, 5:00 pm CST
Session: Aggressive Lymphomas Cellular Therapies: Novel CAR-T constructs, durability and long-term outcomes
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - New Orleans Theater A
Publication number: 1029

Title: Deep and durable responses achieved with CB-011, an off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapy, for heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (CaMMouflage trial)
Presenter: Adriana Rossi, MD, director of CAR-T and stem cell transplant clinical program at the center of excellence for multiple myeloma at Mt Sinai, and investigator on the CaMMouflage trial
Date and time: Saturday, December 12, 2026, 10:15 am CST
Session: Multiple Myeloma: Cellular Therapies: CART in Myeloma: Racing Towards a Cure
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - Hall E
Publication number: 118

Details of the poster presentation are as follows:

Title: Vispa-cel, an off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapy, in patients with large B cell lymphoma who relapsed after prior CD19-directed treatment (ANTLER trial)
Presenter: Mohamad Cherry, MD, medical director of hematology at Atlantic Health, and investigator on the ANTLER trial
Date and time: Sunday, December 13, 2026, 6:00-8:00 pm CST
Session: Aggressive Lymphomas Cellular Therapies: Poster II
Location: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center - Hall F
Publication number: 3681

Abstracts will be available on the 2026 ASH Annual Meeting website on November 4, 2026 at 9:00 am EST.

About vispacabtagene regedleucel
Vispacabtagene regedleucel (vispa-cel; formerly known as CB-010) is an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy evaluated in patients with relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r B-NHL). To Caribou’s knowledge, vispa-cel is the first allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy in the clinic with a PD-1 knockout, a genome-editing strategy designed to enhance CAR-T cell activity by limiting premature CAR-T cell exhaustion. Vispa-cel is pivotal trial-ready, with FDA alignment already reached on the phase 3 clinical trial design. To Caribou’s knowledge, vispa-cel is the first allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy to demonstrate safety, efficacy, and durability on par with autologous CAR-T cell therapies. The FDA granted vispa-cel Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT), Fast Track, and Orphan Drug designations for B-NHL.

About CB-011
CB-011 is an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy evaluated in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM). To Caribou’s knowledge, CB-011 is the first allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy in the clinic that is engineered to enable activity through an immune cloaking strategy with a B2M knockout and insertion of a B2M–HLA-E-peptide fusion protein to blunt immune-mediated rejection. Clinical data from the CB-011 CaMMouflage phase 1 trial has demonstrated the potential for deep, durable responses in patients with r/r MM. The FDA granted CB-011 RMAT, Fast Track, and Orphan Drug designations for r/r MM.

About Caribou Biosciences, Inc.
On October 6, 2026, Caribou Biosciences announced that it will explore strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value, including the planned discontinuation of clinical trials and further development activities for two allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy programs, vispacabtagene regedleucel (vispa-cel) and CB-011. Prior to this announcement, Caribou was a clinical-stage CRISPR genome-editing biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing transformative therapies for patients with devastating diseases. For more information, please visit www.cariboubio.com.

Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, any statements regarding Caribou's plans to explore strategic alternatives and ability to enter into any agreements or transactions in connection with the exploration of potential strategic transactions, or if entered into, that any such agreements or transactions will be successful or on attractive terms; the planned discontinuation of vispa-cel and CB-011; and the beneficial characteristics, safety, efficacy, therapeutic effects, and potential advantages of its CAR-T cell therapy product candidates. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with Caribou's decision to pursue strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value and to discontinue clinical trials and further development of Caribou's two allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy programs, vispa-cel and CB-011; the strategic alternative process, including identifying and executing one or more transactions; risks inherent in the development of cell therapy products; the risk that initial, preliminary, or interim clinical trial data will not ultimately be predictive of the safety and efficacy of Caribou’s product candidates or that clinical outcomes may differ as patient enrollment continues and as more patient data becomes available; as well as other risk factors described from time to time in Caribou’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and in other SEC filings. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Except as required by law, Caribou undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Caution should be exercised when interpreting results from separate trials involving commercially approved autologous CAR-T cell therapies. The results of autologous CAR-T cell therapies referenced in this press release have been derived from publicly available reports of clinical trials not conducted by Caribou, and Caribou has not performed any head-to-head trials comparing any of these autologous CAR-T cell therapies with vispa-cel. As such, the results of these autologous CAR-T cell therapy clinical trials may not be comparable to clinical results for vispa-cel. The autologous CAR-T cell therapy clinical trials vary in material ways from the ANTLER clinical trial for vispa-cel including with respect to trial design and duration, patient population, patient characteristics, clinical trial phase, treatment protocols, investigators, and other important factors. As a result, cross-trial comparisons may have no interpretive value on Caribou’s existing or future clinical results. For further information and to understand these material differences, you should read the reports for the autologous CAR-T cell therapy clinical trials and the sources included in Caribou’s corporate presentations on its website.

Caribou Biosciences, Inc. contact:
Peggy Vorwald, PhD
investor.relations@cariboubio.com
media@cariboubio.com