Developing off-the-shelf T-cell therapies for cancer
Patient-derived CAR-T therapies require complex manufacturing for each patient. Production delays can be too long for people with life-threatening cancers, while high costs and difficult logistics further restrict access to treatment.
Allogenica is developing cancer therapies from healthy donors' stem cells, engineered into precursor T cells. Its approach aims to manufacture and store treatments in advance for off-the-shelf use; lead candidate XL-001 targets CD19-positive blood cancers.
What stands out about Allogenica
Awarded a €2.5 million France 2030 grant in March 2025 to advance industrialization of its universal CAR-T therapies.
Allogenica research CD19 CAR-T cells showed mixed, regimen-dependent effects in chicken CAM lymphoma assays.
Named an i-Lab 2022 laureate in France's national innovation competition.
Co-founder Inna Menkova, PhD, conducted the Lyon cancer-research work on which Allogenica's technology is based.
Co-founder and board member Jean-Marie Grumel holds an MD.
PULSALYS transferred the patent and know-how underpinning Allogenica’s cell-therapy technology through an exclusive licence.
Co-founder Jean-Guillaume Lafay co-founded and led Mablink Bioscience, acquired by Eli Lilly in a transaction completed in December 2023.
Allogenica completed a €500,000 first financing round in 2022 backed by HARA, 33 Californie and Aloe investors.
Allogenica arose from Inna Menkova’s Lyon cancer-research work, with PULSALYS funding proof of concept and transferring the technology.
PULSALYS supported Allogenica through incubation and company creation; Inna Menkova also joined its STRONG(H)ER programme.
Allogenica reported a €90,000 Bpifrance French Tech Emergence grant in its 2022 first-financing announcement.
Get a curated pipeline of healthcare and life sciences startups aligned with your investment thesis.