Cartherics has been recognised as the Emerging Leader in Allogeneic Cell Therapy at the Asia Pacific Cell and Gene Therapy Excellence Awards 2026, a milestone that highlights the company's rise in the off-the-shelf immune cell therapy field.
Based in Melbourne, the privately held biotechnology company focuses on high-impact women's diseases, with lead programs in ovarian cancer and endometriosis, and is building capacity to advance discoveries into clinical testing.
The company is advancing a proprietary gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cell platform that enables the scalable manufacture of Natural Killer cell therapies that are ready off-the-shelf rather than bespoke for each patient. That platform is supported by newly commissioned clean room facilities, GMP-ready manufacturing capability and an expanding intellectual property portfolio that together provide an end-to-end path from discovery through clinical manufacturing.
Cartherics' lead candidate, CTH 401, targets TAG 72, an antigen highly expressed in ovarian cancer and several other solid tumours. The company plans to submit an Investigational New Drug application later this year with a first-in-human clinical trial expected to start shortly afterwards, a move that the company says would represent a significant value inflection point.
Beyond oncology, Cartherics is applying the same platform to develop immune cell therapies for endometriosis, a common chronic disease affecting women worldwide, creating the potential for multiple clinical and commercial opportunities from a single technology.
The Asia Pacific awards were presented before more than 300 industry and investor leaders attending Cell and Gene Therapy World Asia and Oligonucleotides and Peptides World Asia Congress 2026.
“We are proud of the team and technology platform that Cartherics has built over the past 10 years and delighted that it has been recognised with this award,” said Dr Ian Nisbet, Cartherics’ CEO.
