Yesterday, leading CAR-T company T-CURX announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pantherna Therapeutics, a German biotechnology company specializing in mRNA engineering and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technologies.
Pantherna will continue to operate as Pantherna Therapeutics as a wholly owned subsidiary of T-CURX. The complementary expertise and proprietary technologies of both companies will be leveraged to accelerate clinical translation of CAR-T strategies with a clear focus on clinical validation of in vivo CAR-T therapies.
T-CURX is a Würzburg-headquartered private BioTech company with an additional site in Munich, with strong expertise, proprietary technologies, and a track record for clinical translation of non-viral, transposon-based CAR-T therapies for novel and differentiated targets.
T-CURX is backed by private investors and an international syndicate of blue-chip BioTech investors led by Swiss BiomedVC. T-CURX closed a USD 20.5 million Series A financing round at the end of 2025. Pantherna was supported by a group of private investors and Germany-based High-Tech Gründer Fonds (HTGF), which will become new shareholders of T-CURX. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
Ulf Grawunder, CEO and co-founder of T-CURX, commented: “With this acquisition, we are bringing together two highly complementary technology platforms and teams. We are taking a decisive step forward to accelerate the clinical development of differentiated, next-generation in vivo CAR-T therapies. Our strength in clinical translation of non-viral transposon-based CAR-T therapies combined with Pantherna’s proprietary mRNA and LNP-based delivery capabilities allows us to build an efficient engine to expedite clinical development of differentiated in vivo CAR-T assets in cancer, as well as in other indications.”
Ansgar Santel, CEO of Pantherna Therapeutics, added: “Joining T-CURX is a natural evolution of our collaboration. This integration allows us to address both stable and transient cell engineering strategies based on powerful and proven proprietary platforms. We believe this positions us uniquely to efficiently drive CAR-T innovation forward for patients in need, particularly for in vivo CAR-T strategies across a broad range of therapeutic applications.”
The combination of both companies’ positions positions T-CURX to become a leading next-generation CAR-T player, as the first European BioTech with both proprietary CAR-T and LNP technologies under one roof, enabling integration of key capabilities across the full value chain from discovery to clinical development of CAR-T products. Post-acquisition, the company will have a total headcount of 35 and will manage a collective portfolio of currently 16 patent families protecting the combined technologies and assets.
