CRISPR Therapeutics(US:CRSP) Benzinga·2025-12-22 17:45Core Insights - CRISPR Therapeutics AG provided updates on its investigational allogeneic CAR T therapy, zugocaptagene geleucel (zugo-cel), targeting CD19 for autoimmune diseases and hematologic malignancies [1] Autoimmune Disease - Zugo-cel is currently in a Phase 1 basket trial for autoimmune rheumatologic diseases, with preliminary clinical data showing encouraging results and good tolerability [2] - As of December 17, four patients received a dose of 100 million cells, showing comparable cell expansion to that in B-cell lymphoma trials [3] - Rapid and deep B-cell depletion was observed within 1-2 days, maintained over the first month, with all patients showing significant clinical improvement by Day 28 [4] - No high-grade cytokine release syndrome (CRS) or immune-effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) was reported, and ongoing trials are expected to provide updates in the second half of 2026 [5] Immuno-Oncology - Zugo-cel was administered after lymphodepletion with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide, with 39 patients treated across four dose levels [6] - At the recommended Phase 2 dose of 600 million cells, 10 patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (R/R LBCL) showed an overall response rate of 90% and a complete response rate of 70% [7] - Among patients with 12 months of follow-up, 67% remained in complete response, with peak CAR T cell expansion observed at approximately 1,700 cells/µL, a four-fold increase compared to the 300 million cell dose [8] - No Grade 3 ICANS or CRS was observed at the 100 million cell dose currently being studied in autoimmune trials [9] - The Phase 1/2 trial in R/R B-cell malignancies is ongoing, with additional updates expected in the second half of 2026, and a new collaboration with Eli Lilly has been established to evaluate zugo-cel with pirtobrutinib in aggressive B-cell lymphomas [10] Market Reaction - CRISPR Therapeutics shares increased by 3.46% to $57.79 at the time of publication [11]