Allotera Therapeutics announced the closing of a $35 million financing round. The financing includes equity and venture debt and brings the company’s total capital raised to $150 million.
The company, formerly known as Wugen, also introduced its new name, Allotera Therapeutics. The rebrand reflects its sharpened focus on developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies for patients with T-cell cancers.
The financing builds on Allotera’s $115 million Series C announced in late 2025. Proceeds will primarily support the ongoing global pivotal T-RRex clinical trial of Soficabtagene Geleucel, also known as Sofi-cel, in relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma.
The capital will also support platform capabilities, operational scale-up, and continued team growth. Allotera is developing Sofi-cel as an allogeneic, healthy donor-derived CAR-T cell therapy intended to address challenges that have limited CAR-T therapy development in T-cell cancers.
T-cell cancers are a difficult setting for CAR-T development because many therapeutic targets are also present on the T cells used to manufacture the therapy. Sofi-cel is designed as an off-the-shelf treatment approach for patients with aggressive T-cell malignancies.
The previous Series C was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from all existing investors. The current extension includes additional participation from Lightchain Capital and BioGenerator, along with new investors including Blood Cancer United’s Therapy Acceleration Program and others.
The venture debt was provided by Banc of California. In connection with the financing, Allotera also entered into a strategic partnership with Blood Cancer United.
Through the partnership, Blood Cancer United’s Therapy Acceleration Program will provide access to scientific and drug development expertise. It will also help connect Allotera with key opinion leaders and resources across clinical trial support, patient education, and community engagement.
Sofi-cel is a CD7-targeted CAR-T cell therapy manufactured in the U.S. using healthy donor-derived T cells. Allotera uses CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to delete CD7 and TRAC genes, an approach intended to prevent CAR-T cell fratricide and mitigate the risk of graft-versus-host disease.
Sofi-cel has received Breakthrough Therapy, Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy, Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for relapsed or refractory T-ALL/T-LBL. It has also received PRIME designation in the European Union and was selected for the FDA’s Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls Development and Readiness Pilot Program.
KEY QUOTE:
“Allotera reflects who we are becoming as a company: a pivotal-stage cell therapy company focused on bringing off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies to patients with T-cell cancers. With Sofi-cel advancing in T-RRex, a global pivotal study, this financing strengthens our ability to execute across clinical development, manufacturing, and patient-community engagement as we work to address diseases where treatment options remain limited. Our partnership with Blood Cancer United reflects an important part of Allotera’s next chapter. As we advance Sofi-cel through pivotal development, we are committed not only to building the clinical and manufacturing capabilities needed to bring off-the-shelf cell therapies forward, but also to engaging with the communities most affected by these diseases.”
Kumar Srinivasan, Ph.D., M.B.A., CEO of Allotera Therapeutics
