CTRL Therapeutics Launches with $10M Seed Financing to Advance Next-Generation Cell Therapy Platform for the Treatment of Solid Tumors

CTRL Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a next-generation cell therapy platform for solid tumors, has announced a $10M seed financing led by General Catalyst with participation from Intermountain Health, FACIT and other investors.

“The field of cell therapy has been limited by the lack of tools to isolate and expand tumor-reactive cells that are efficacious against solid tumors,” said Shana Kelley, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Technology Officer at CTRL Therapeutics. “This funding enables further optimization and validation of our proprietary technology platform and expansion of our team to support our mission to deliver curative therapies for all individuals living with cancer.”

CTRL Therapeutics is leveraging a next-generation platform with the potential to address the challenges of existing cell therapy technologies by extracting circulating tumor-reactive lymphocytes (cTRLs) from blood. It builds on the advantages of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapies while providing greater efficacy by improving the immune-phenotype, quality and consistency of therapeutic cells harvested. This method may enable broader patient access by avoiding invasive and costly surgery, while delivering superior cost-effectiveness and simplified manufacturing.

The company’s approach is highlighted in a landmark publication featured in Nature Biomedical Engineering, titled “Isolation of tumor-reactive lymphocytes from peripheral blood via microfluidic immunomagnetic cell sorting.” The study validates CTRL’s high-throughput cell processing platform to harvest tumor-reactive immune cells from the blood, which exhibited significant levels of antitumor activity when tested against solid tumors in mice.

“CTRL combines high impact, pioneering science that harnesses natural biology with experienced leadership that is well versed in platform optimization and clinical development,” said Elena Viboch, Partner at General Catalyst. “We are excited to partner with the CTRL team to propel the development of next-generation cellular therapy for solid tumors, and to ultimately bring accessible, safe and effective therapeutics to patients affected by cancer.”