July 08, 2026 —
Allotera Therapeutics, formerly Wugen, announced the closing of a $35 million financing round comprising equity and venture debt, bringing the company’s total Series C financing to $150 million. The company also introduced its new name, Allotera Therapeutics, reflecting its focus on developing allogeneic, off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies for aggressive blood cancers.
The additional capital builds on the company’s previously announced $115 million Series C financing and will primarily support pivotal-stage development of Soficabtagene Geleucel, also known as Sofi-cel, in relapsed or refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL, and T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma, or T-LBL.
Sofi-cel is currently being evaluated in T-RRex, a global pivotal clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory T-ALL/T-LBL. The funding will also support platform capabilities, operational scale-up, manufacturing execution, patient-community engagement, and continued team growth.
T-cell malignancies are a particularly challenging setting for CAR-T therapy development because many targets expressed on malignant T cells are also present on the healthy T cells used to manufacture CAR-T products. This can lead to fratricide, in which engineered T cells attack one another during production, and can complicate autologous manufacturing.
Sofi-cel is an allogeneic, healthy donor-derived, CD7-targeted CAR-T cell therapy designed to address these challenges. Allotera uses CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to delete both CD7 and the T-cell receptor alpha constant, or TRAC, genes. CD7 deletion is intended to prevent CAR-T cell fratricide, while TRAC deletion is designed to mitigate the risk of graft-versus-host disease.
The therapy is manufactured in the United States using healthy donor-derived T cells, which is intended to reduce the risk of malignant cell contamination that can occur in autologous CAR-T manufacturing for T-cell cancers.
The Series C financing was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from existing investors. The extension included additional participation from Lightchain Capital and BioGenerator, as well as new investors including Blood Cancer United’s Therapy Acceleration Program, or TAP. Venture debt was provided by Banc of California.
In connection with the financing, Allotera entered into a strategic partnership with Blood Cancer United. Through TAP, Blood Cancer United will provide scientific and drug development expertise, support engagement with key opinion leaders, and connect the company with resources related to clinical trials, patient education, and community engagement.
Sofi-cel has received multiple regulatory designations from the FDA for relapsed or refractory T-ALL/T-LBL, including Breakthrough Therapy, Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy, Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Rare Pediatric Disease designations. 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.
The financing and rebrand position Allotera as a pivotal-stage cell therapy company focused on off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies for T-cell cancers, an area of high unmet need where durable treatment options remain limited.
