Penn Medicine CAR T Spinout Company to be Acquired by Pharmaceutical Giant

The pharmaceutical company AbbVie announced that it would pay up to $2.1 billion to acquire Capstan Therapeutics, a startup developing CAR T cell therapies for autoimmune conditions, fibrosis, and cancer. Capstan was founded based on preclinical research from a group of Penn scientists led by Jonathan Epstein, MD, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System, that discovered how CAR T cell therapy could be harnessed to treat heart disease. The company’s multidisciplinary team of Penn founders also includes Carl June, MD, and Drew Weissman, MD, PhD. Capstan’s latest work involves specially designed lipid nanoparticles—tiny cell-like capsules—to safely deliver CAR T-making mRNA and produce CAR T cells within a patient’s own body.