Kalaris and AlloVir Inc. complete merger

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Kalaris Therapeutics and AlloVir Inc. have officially completed a previously announced merger of the 2 companies. The combined companies will operate under the name Kalaris Therapeutics, Inc. and will trade on Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol KLRS. The company will be led by Andrew Oxtoby, CEO of Kalaris, and other members of Kalaris management.

The merger was first announced in November 2024, and under the initial terms, upon closing, the combined company is expected to have approximately $100 million in cash, which is expected to be sufficient to fund the combined company’s operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the fourth quarter of 2026, which was confirmed in a press release from the company following the merger.

Oxtoby commented, “We are delighted to close this transaction, which we expect will provide us with the financial resources to continue development of TH103 beyond the initiation of our planned Phase 2 clinical trial.”

TH103 is a novel, differentiated anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agent engineered to potentially provide longer-lasting and increased anti-VEGF activity to treat neovascular and exudative diseases of the retina. The company noted that TH103 was specifically engineered to address the limitations of current neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) therapies and has demonstrated both potent anti-VEGF activity and sustained ocular residence time in preclinical studies.

Kalaris expects to report initial data from part 1 of its ongoing phase 1 clinical trial of TH103 in treatment-naïve nAMD patients in the second half of 2025. The phase 1 clinical trial is designed to evaluate safety, pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics, determine optimal dose, and assess preliminary evidence of treatment effect.

References:

1. Kalaris announces closing of merger with AlloVir. Globe Newswire. Published March 18, 2025. Accessed March 20, 2025. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/03/18/3044996/0/en/Kalaris-Announces-Closing-of-Merger-with-AlloVir.html