Liberate Bio Secures CAR-M Patents to Advance In Vivo Cell Therapy
Biotechnology company Liberate Bio, Inc. has secured new intellectual property licenses aimed at advancing next-generation cell therapies that reprogram immune cells directly inside the body. The company announced it has obtained both exclusive and non-exclusive licenses to patents covering specialized chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) designs optimized for myeloid immune cells, including monocytes and macrophages.
The licensed intellectual property originates from Carisma Therapeutics and University of Pennsylvania and includes methods and designs for CAR constructs engineered specifically to function in myeloid cell populations. These designs are intended to enable immune cells such as macrophages and monocytes to recognize and attack disease targets more effectively.
The licensing deal marks an important step for Liberate Bio as it works to develop in vivo CAR-M therapies—treatments that program immune cells directly within the patient’s body rather than modifying them outside the body and reinfusing them, as is commonly done with CAR-T therapies. The newly acquired patents complement the company’s proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology, which is designed to selectively deliver RNA therapies to specific immune cells.
By combining optimized CAR design intellectual property with its targeted RNA delivery platform, Liberate Bio says it now has the core technological components needed to advance its in vivo CAR-M therapy programs toward clinical testing.
Walter R. Strapps, chief scientific officer of Liberate Bio, said the licensing agreement significantly strengthens the company’s research pipeline. He explained that myeloid immune cells behave differently from T cells, meaning that CAR constructs must be specifically engineered to function effectively within these cell types. Integrating these optimized CAR designs with Liberate Bio’s targeted delivery platform could enable more efficient immune activation and longer persistence of therapeutic cells.
Central to the company’s approach is its RAPTOR™ discovery platform, which screens lipid nanoparticle formulations directly in non-human primates to identify delivery systems capable of targeting immune cells outside the liver. According to the company, its lead LNP formulation has demonstrated the ability to selectively program monocytes and macrophages in vivo, achieving more than 99% depletion of circulating B cells in preclinical studies.
Shawn P. Davis, chief executive officer of Liberate Bio, described in vivo CAR-M technology as a new direction in immune reprogramming. He noted that combining cell-selective delivery systems with optimized CAR designs could create a scalable alternative to traditional CAR-T therapies while potentially improving safety and expanding treatment accessibility.
CAR-T therapies have shown remarkable success in certain cancers but often require complex manufacturing processes and individualized treatments. In contrast, in vivo cell therapies aim to simplify treatment by delivering genetic instructions directly into a patient’s immune cells.
Liberate Bio plans to move its first in vivo CAR-M therapy candidate into IND-enabling studies, the final preclinical phase before regulatory submission for human trials. The company aims to initiate its first clinical evaluation through an investigator-initiated trial in the second half of 2026.
If successful, the approach could open the door to new treatments for both autoimmune diseases and cancer by harnessing the body’s own immune cells in a more efficient and scalable way.