Life sciences company AlloVir, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALVR), based in Watham, Mass. and Palo Alto, California, have announced a merger agreement to combine with Kalaris Therapeutics (“Kalaris”) in an all-stock transaction. Upon closing, company is expected to be renamed “Kalaris Therapeutics, Inc.”, trading on NASDAQ as “KLRS”. Kalaris is focused on the development of “TH103”, a novel, differentiated anti-VEGF investigational therapy trial for the treatment of nAMD. TH103 is a fully humanized, recombinant fusion protein being evaluated in an ongoing, Phase 1 clinical trial, which acts against VEGF as a decoy receptor, engineered for improved VEGF inhibition and longer retention in the retina. The company are focused to target the $14 billion global branded anti-VEGF market, projected to grow to approximately $18 billion by 2029.
Presented by Kalaris Therapeutics, available at https://kalaristx.com
TH103 was invented by Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, MD, a Genentech Fellow, Professor, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and a VEGF pioneering scientist and Lasker Award winner. TH103 provides a recombinant fusion protein designed for intravitreal delivery, “with potential to be a best-in-class anti-VEGF agent”. Acting as a soluble decoy receptor (VEGF R1), the experimental therapy has the potential to confer sustained retinal retention, possibly leading to a longer treatment effect. The company suggests that their novel approach may provide a clinically meaningful advance over the current standard-of-care. Andrew Oxtoby, CEO of Kalaris Therapeutics commented that, “we believe that TH103 has the potential to be a meaningful advance for patients suffering from a number of neovascular and exudative retinal diseases. Kalaris is currently enrolling a Phase 1 clinical trial, and we look forward to reporting initial data in treatment naïve nAMD patients in the third quarter of 2025.” According to the company’s presentation, the TH103 study expects initial data in Q3 2025, supported with a cash balance of approximately $100 million at close, which is anticipated in Q1 2025.
Following the announcement, David Hallal, Chairman of the Board of AlloVir Inc., stated that on behalf of the AlloVir board, I am thrilled that we have entered into this transformational merger agreement with Kalaris. The combination of our financial resources, with Kalaris’ TH103 asset from the lab of the renowned Dr. Napoleone Ferrara, will help accelerate the clinical development of TH103 for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (“nAMD”) as well as other diseases such as diabetic macular edema (“DME”) and retinal vein occlusion (“RVO”). I am also looking forward to once again working with many members of the Kalaris board and management team with the goal of again ushering in a new era for the retina community by delivering an innovation for targeted VEGF inhibition.”