AUTL

Autolus Therapeutics develops next-generation programmed T-cell therapies for treating cancer, focusing on chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies and T-cell receptor therapies targeting blood cancers and solid tumors. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom with U.S. operations in Rockville, Maryland, Autolus specializes in engineering patient T-cells expressing synthetic receptors recognizing and killing cancer cells, potentially offering curative outcomes for patients failing conventional treatments including chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and stem cell transplants. The company's lead program obe-cel represents an autologous CAR T-cell therapy targeting CD19-positive B-cell lymphomas, currently in pivotal Phase 2 trials with promising efficacy data showing high complete response rates in heavily pre-treated patients. Autolus's manufacturing approach emphasizes developing proprietary production processes potentially reducing manufacturing timelines from 3-4 weeks typical of approved CAR-T therapies to under two weeks, addressing critical challenges where patients with rapidly progressing cancers may deteriorate while awaiting treatment availability. The company's pipeline includes additional CAR-T candidates targeting different antigens across hematologic malignancies, plus novel T-cell receptor programs recognizing intracellular tumor antigens presented on cell surfaces potentially expanding treatable cancer types beyond those addressed by CAR-T technologies limited to surface antigens. Autolus reported no product revenues with annual operating expenses exceeding $100 million funding multiple concurrent clinical programs and manufacturing infrastructure development. Recent developments include presenting clinical data demonstrating obe-cel efficacy in difficult-to-treat lymphoma subtypes, advancing manufacturing process optimizations improving consistency and reducing production costs, and pursuing regulatory strategies potentially enabling accelerated approvals based on Phase 2 data if efficacy signals prove sufficiently compelling. The company faces intense competition from approved CAR-T therapies including Gilead's Yescarta and Novartis's Kymriah, plus emerging cell therapy developers including Allogene Therapeutics developing off-the-shelf allogeneic alternatives eliminating patient-specific manufacturing. Autolus operates with substantial cash burn requiring periodic capital raises through equity offerings or strategic partnerships potentially providing funding, manufacturing support, or commercialization capabilities if programs achieve regulatory approvals.