Daily briefings
Editor’s Briefing: October 7, 2026
In Short. Caribou Biosciences, the cell therapy company spun out of Jennifer Doudna’s gene-editing lab, halted all drug development and began cutting staff because it could not raise money. ArriVent’s lung cancer pill failed its phase 3 trial, the chemistry Nobel went to two chemists who showed how reactions can make one mirror-image form of a molecule, and Forbion closed $2.6 billion in new funds for European biotech.
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Caribou halts its pipeline and cuts staff
CAR-T therapies are immune T cells engineered to find and kill cancer cells. Approved versions are made from each patient’s own cells, which takes weeks. Caribou, founded in 2011 out of Jennifer Doudna’s lab, edits T cells from healthy donors so doses can be made in advance. On Tuesday it said it would stop all clinical work, make a substantial cut to its staff, which numbered 97 in February, and look for a buyer, merger or asset sale. Its lead therapy, vispa-cel, was in phase 1 for lymphoma, a blood cancer, and this summer showed a median time before the cancer grew similar to two approved patient-derived CAR-Ts. Caribou had agreed a phase 3 design with the FDA. Chief executive Rachel Haurwitz said investors have stopped funding donor-cell CAR-Ts. Money has moved to in vivo methods, which reprogram T cells inside the body. (Fierce Biotech)
ArriVent’s lung cancer pill misses in phase 3
EGFR is a growth-signal protein on cells. In up to 10% of non-small cell lung cancers, the most common kind, the EGFR gene carries an exon 20 insertion, a small extra stretch of DNA that leaves the protein switched on. ArriVent’s firmonertinib is a daily pill that blocks mutant EGFR. The FURVENT trial gave 398 newly diagnosed patients one of two doses or platinum chemotherapy. On Tuesday ArriVent said the trial missed its main goal. Patients went a median 11 months before their cancer grew on the higher dose and 9.5 months on chemotherapy, a gap that was not statistically significant. Tumors shrank in 60% of patients on the higher dose against 33% on chemotherapy. Survival data are immature. Johnson & Johnson’s Rybrevant, an intravenous antibody given with chemotherapy, already serves these patients. (Fierce Biotech; BioPharma Dive)
Chemistry Nobel goes to the study of mirror-image molecules
Many molecules come in two forms that are mirror images of each other, the way a left hand mirrors a right. Chemists call this chirality. Living things use only one form of each amino acid, the building blocks of proteins. In a drug, often only one form has the intended effect, and more than half of drugs in clinical use are chiral. On Wednesday the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize to Henri Kagan of Université Paris-Sud and Kenso Soai of Tokyo University of Science. In 1986 Kagan found that a reaction can produce more of one form than chemists had thought possible. In 2003 Soai reported a reaction whose product speeds up its own formation and yields only one form. The academy said the work has been decisive for designing reactions that make medicines. (Nobel Prize; STAT)
Forbion closes $2.6 billion for European biotech
Venture firms buy stakes in young, private drug companies before those companies have products to sell. Forbion, based in the Netherlands, is the largest European venture firm that invests only in life sciences. On Tuesday it said it had closed 2.3 billion euros, about $2.6 billion, across two funds, its largest fundraise to date and more than it planned. The money can back as many as 30 companies; recent investments include Sling Therapeutics and Solstice Oncology. Backers include the Dutch pension managers MN and PGGM, the Kauffman Foundation, Germany’s KfW Capital and Eli Lilly. Forbion has backed 142 companies, and its portfolio has brought 21 drugs or other medical products to market. The raise comes as Europe runs fewer clinical trials and draws a smaller share of venture money than the U.S. and China. (BioPharma Dive)
What to watch
pdufa.bio lists FDA decisions on Roche’s Tecentriq for stage III colon cancer after surgery on October 9 and Roche’s Enspryng in thyroid eye disease on October 15.