SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 9, 2025 — Link Cell Therapies (“Link”), an oncology cell therapy company, today announced a strategic collaboration with Johnson & Johnson* to develop novel logic-gated LINK CAR T therapies. The collaboration follows the recently announced Series A financing in Link that was led by Johnson & Johnson, through its corporate venture capital organization, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc, which included participation of additional strategic and financial investors.
The collaboration aims to develop AND-gate CAR T programs for clinical use by leveraging Link’s proprietary LINK logic gate, a novel technology that allows for the safe and potent killing of tumor cells. Prior CAR T efforts targeting multiple tumor types have been limited by toxicity resulting from killing of healthy tissue cells expressing target antigens. LINK CAR T cells have the potential to overcome this challenge by selectively targeting proteins that are co-expressed on tumor cells (but not healthy tissues), thereby dramatically expanding the world of tumor specific cancer antigens.
“We are excited for this collaboration to expand the pipeline of LINK CAR T programs,” said Mark Wallet, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Link Cell Therapies. “Our proprietary LINK platform is broadly applicable against cancer antigens for indications with high levels of patient need; we look forward to advancing a new generation of impactful CAR T therapies via internal development and strategic partnerships.”
About Link Cell Therapies
Link Cell Therapies (“Link”) is a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. Founded in 2022 by Robbie Majzner, MD and Crystal Mackall, MD at Stanford University. Link’s proprietary logic-gating technologies allow for safe targeting of multiple antigens that are co-expressed selectively on cancer cells, thereby reducing the risk of on-target, off-tumor toxicity. This enables discovery of an entirely new landscape of “clean” target pairs, and development of next-generation CAR-T therapeutics for solid and liquid cancers. Link’s team features industry-leading scientists collaborating with top-tier advisors and life science financial and strategic investors committed to improving outcomes for cancer patients. To learn more, please visit linkcelltx.com.
*Legal entity: Janssen Biotech, Inc.
