Company Month reported Indication Headquarters Founded Public/private Modality Velia Therapeutics January Autoimmune and oncology San Diego 2021 Private Target discovery Viracta Therapeutics February Oncology Calif. 1998 Public Small molecules Kojin Therapeutics February Autoimmune and oncology Boston 2019 Private Small molecules Spotlight Therapeutics February Oncology and ophthalmology Calif. 2017 Private Gene editing Inspirna April Oncology New York City 2010 Private Small molecules Carisma Therapeutics April Autoimmune, oncology Philadelphia 2016 Public Cell therapy Vincerx Pharma April Oncology Palo Alto 2018 Public Antibody drug conjugates Oncternal Therapeutics July Oncology San Diego 2013 Public Small molecules and cell therapy Hookipa Pharma July Oncology and infect. dis. New York City 2011 Public Virus immunotherapy and vaccines NextRNA Therapeutics August Oncology Boston 2020 Private Small molecules Appia Bio August Oncology Los Angeles 2020 Private Cell therapy
The cell therapy mausoleum An entire wing of this year’s cemetery is dedicated to cell therapy, a modality that has experienced a massive shift in 2025. Cell therapy biotechs Carisma Therapeutics, Oncternal Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics and Appia Bio all closed up shop this year—even big-name partnerships weren’t enough to save them. Many other cell therapy outfits survived to tell the tale but have laid off staffers along the way, with 20 layoff rounds occurring at cell and gene therapy biotechs in the first quarter of 2025. This year has revealed the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of cell therapy. Many big players have walked away from the modality entirely, including Takeda, Novo Nordisk and Galapagos, while others have torn up multibillion-dollar deals, like Gilead’s Kite and Roche’s Genentech.
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