Nona Biosciences Announces Expansion of Collaboration with Umoja Biopharma to Advance In Vivo CAR-T Cell Therapies
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nona Biosciences, a global biotechnology company providing integrated solutions from "Idea to IND" (I to I™), today announced an evaluation and license agreement with Umoja Biopharma ("Umoja"), the clinical-stage leader of in vivo cell therapies that aim to realize the full reach and promise of CAR-T cells.
This agreement represents an expansion of the strategic collaboration established between the two companies in September 2024. The expanded partnership aims to create multiple in vivo CAR-T cell products by combining Nona's proprietary HCAb Harbour Mice® and NonaCarFx™ platforms with Umoja's VivoVec™ platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, Nona Biosciences is eligible to receive an upfront payment, potential option exercise fees and milestone payments tied to the discovery and development of specific programs in the collaboration. Umoja will be responsible for all further product development and commercialization.
Dr. Di Hong, Chief Executive Officer of Nona Biosciences, commented, "We're excited to expand our partnership with Umoja, a pioneer in in vivo CAR-T cell therapy. This collaboration reflects Umoja's continued confidence in Nona's technology platforms and expertise. With our industry-leading antibody discovery capabilities and deep experience in immunology and oncology, we look forward to supporting Umoja in developing next-generation in vivo CAR-T cell therapies with the potential to transform patient care."
"Expanding our collaboration with Nona Biosciences marks a critical next step in Umoja continuing to build an industry-leading, wholly-owned pipeline of in vivo CAR-T cell therapies," said Ryan Larson, PhD, Senior Vice President of Research, Umoja Biopharma. "This expanded partnership between Umoja and Nona enables us to harness Nona's proprietary targeting technologies together with our VivoVec™ platform to accelerate the development of therapies that can transform the cell therapy landscape. By combining our expertise, we aim to enhance patient access to more innovative and effective medicines."
About Nona Biosciences
Nona Biosciences is a global biotechnology company committed to cutting-edge technology innovations and providing integrated solutions from "Idea to IND" ("I to ITM"), ranging from target validation and antibody discovery through preclinical research. Nona's integrated antibody and antibody-related discovery services cover a broad range of modalities, from antigen preparation, animal immunization, single B cell screening, to antibody lead generation and engineering, developability assessment and pharmacological evaluation, leveraging advantages of Harbour Mice® platforms and the experienced therapeutic antibody discovery teams.
Harbour Mice® generates fully human monoclonal antibodies in classical two light and two heavy chain (H2L2) format, and heavy chain-only (HCAb) format. The HCAb Harbour Mice® is the world's first fully human HCAb transgenic mouse with clinical validation. This unique platform offers exceptional versatility for diverse applications using fully human VH single-domain antibodies as a plug-and-play system, including bispecific antibodies, multi-specific antibodies, CAR-T therapies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), mRNA-based therapeutics, and more.
By integrating Harbour Mice®, single-B cell screening technology, NonaCarFxTM (a direct CAR-function-based screening platform), Hu-mAtrIxTM (an AI-driven drug discovery platform), Modalities-on-DemandTM (a next-generation modalities solution), and end-to-end preclinical drug development services, Nona Biosciences is dedicated to driving the global invention of transformative next-generation drugs. For more information, please visit: www.nonabio.com.
About Umoja Biopharma
Umoja Biopharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company aiming to develop in vivo cell therapies that improve the reach, effectiveness, and access of CAR T cell therapies in both oncology and autoimmunity. Umoja's VivoVec™ in vivo gene delivery technology empowers a patient's own immune system to fight disease. Enabling its core technology is the Company's state- of-the-art lentiviral vector development and manufacturing facility in Louisville, Colorado. Umoja believes its approach can provide broader access and improved effectiveness of the most advanced immunotherapies, enabling more patients to live better, fuller lives. To learn more, connect with Umoja on LinkedIn and visit umoja-biopharma.com .
SOURCE Nona Biosciences
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