Coronado Biosciences has formed a new company, Mustang Therapeutics, in partnership with California research and treatment center City of Hope. Mustang initially will focus on the preclinical and clinical development, as well as commercialization of proprietary Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR-T) technology. The deal is valued in excess of $40 million for the development of these CAR-T cells via up-front and milestone payments to City of Hope. It is anticipated the first two CAR-T cells from this partnership will begin enrollment in human clinical trials at the City of Hope this year.

This portfolio of CAR-T cells was developed by Dr. Stephen Forman, director, T cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory and the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, and Dr. Christine Brown, associate director, T cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory and associate research professor. 

Dr. Lindsay Rosenwald, Coronado Biosciences' chairman and CEO, said, "The development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells for serious, refractory cancers is a burgeoning field of oncology. The engineering of patients' immune cells to treat cancers may have a dramatic effect in cancer therapy."