CAR-T cell Therapies Made In the Body: Andy Scharenberg on The Long Run

Andy Scharenberg is today’s guest on The Long Run.

Andy is the co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Umoja Biopharma. The company is developing in vivo CAR-T cell therapies. The idea is to use gene therapy, delivered in a single shot, that can reprogram T cells of the immune system to recognize markers on cancer cells and then hunt down cancer cells and kill them like an invading virus.

Andy Scharenberg, co-founder and CEO, Umoja Biopharma

CAR-T cell therapies have been around for years, and they have delivered remarkable, lifesaving results for patients with certain forms of blood cancer. But these treatments are engineered in a complex, time-consuming, and expensive process. It depends on carefully controlled lab environments where a patient’s precious T cells get engineered, then shipped back to the patient and re-infused. Umoja is hoping to sidestep this so-called “ex-vivo” work – outside the body – and save everyone a lot of time and money by coaxing the body to achieve a similar result “in vivo” or inside the body.

Umoja raised $100 million in a Series C financing at the start of 2025 and is advancing programs through early clinical testing for cancer and autoimmunity. The company and its R&D partners hope to have an early glimpse of clinical trial results before the end of 2025. If successful, this could represent a paradigm shift in the field of cell therapy.

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Now, please join me and Andy Scharenberg on The Long Run.