Caribou Biosciences Eyes $100M NASDAQ Debut To Propel Off-The-Shelf CAR-T Therapies In Blood Cancer

In a filing with SEC on Thursday, Caribou Biosciences CRBU is penciling in a $100 million initial public offering.
The firm expects that its new shares will trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol "CRBU" once the IPO closes.
BofA Securities, Citigroup, and SVB Leerink are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
The funds will give a boost to the company's three off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies, the most advanced of which is an anti-CD19 candidate (CB-010) in Phase 1 for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Some of the IPO proceeds will go to IND-enabling activities for Caribou's other two candidates, CB-011 and CB-012.
The former targets BCMA to treat relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. That candidate is expected to hit the clinic in 2022.
CB-012, a CAR-T targeting CD371 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. The company hopes to start human trials in 2023.
Though Caribou's CAR-T programs all target blood cancer, the company is working on allogeneic NK cell therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells for solid tumors.
Some of the IPO proceeds will support R&D in this area and develop the CRISPR technology it uses to make its cell therapies.
In March, Caribou Biosciences secured a $115 million Series C round.