The brief
- Sells two approved CAR-T therapies for blood cancers, Breyanzi and Abecma, both gained with its 2019 purchase of Celgene (which owned Juno).
- Zola-cel kept 94% of evaluable early autoimmune patients off long-term immune drugs; new enrollment paused late Aug 2026.
- Bought Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5B in Oct 2025 to make CAR-T cells inside the body instead of in a lab.
Technical approach
Proven CAR
Reuse a cancer-tested CAR design
Zola-cel uses the same CD19-targeting receptor as Breyanzi, already approved for lymphoma, so the targeting part is well understood.
Manufacturing
Five-day NEX-T production
The NEX-T process grows the modified T cells in about five days, aiming for fitter, less exhausted cells and a faster turnaround.
Immune reset
Wipe out B cells, let them regrow
In autoimmune disease the CAR-T clears out antibody-making B cells; new ones that grow back appear to lose the faulty self-attack.
In vivo
Next: CAR-T made inside the body
Orbital's OTX-201 uses circular RNA in fat particles to turn a patient's own T cells into CAR-T cells, with no cell factory.
