Poseida Therapeutics

Poseida Therapeutics specializes in gene editing to develop novel therapeutics for a range of liquid and solid tumors using the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology. It develops autologous (using cells from the patients themselves) and allogeneic (using cells from other individuals) gene-edited therapies based on Chimeric Antigen Receptors T (CAR-T) cells. 

Poseida operates a suite of platforms including non-viral piggyBac DNA Modification System for gene insertion, Cas-CLOVER for site-specific gene editing, and gene delivery technologies (in vivo and ex vivo) based on nanoparticle and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. The company has demonstrated low to almost no off-target activities in the company’s preclinical studies using its Cas-CLOVER platform, which it considers to be an advantage over other existing gene editing systems.

As of March 2024, the company has six programs in its CAR-T pipeline focused on oncology, of which three have reached Phase I clinical trials. It also has three gene therapies to treat Hemophilia A, Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD), and Phenylketonuria, all of which were in the preclinical stages . The company fully owns two of its CAR-T therapies for solid tumor indications and all of its gene therapies, while its remaining cell therapies are a part of a collaboration with Roche. 

Key customers and partnerships

The company announced in August 2022 that it had entered into a broad strategic collaboration and license agreement with Roche, focused on developing allogeneic CAR-T therapies directed to hematologic malignancies. The global collaboration covered the research and development of multiple existing and novel "off-the-shelf" cell therapies against targets in multiple myeloma, B-cell lymphomas and other hematologic indications.

Funding and financials

Poseida Therapeutics went public on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in July 2020, raising gross proceeds of USD 224 million. The net proceeds were earmarked to accelerate its clinical development efforts. For 2021, it recorded revenue of USD 31.2 million earned through collaborations.

The company last raised funds in August 2023, when it raised USD 50 million through a strategic investment from Astellas. The funding comprised of the purchase of shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of USD 25 million and an additional USD 25 million one-time payment for certain strategic rights, and provided a business update. The company did not disclose what the funds would be used for.