CAR-T market4 Mar 2025 21:38
While 2023 saw a resurgence in dealmaking, the CAR-T industry experienced a slowdown in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2024, with only two deals completed. Although major M&A activity may not return in 2025, further deals are likely as large pharmaceutical companies look to deploy their cash reserves. Over the past decade, M&A deals have accounted for the largest share of CAR-T industry financing, totaling an impressive $97.4 billion.
In total, the CAR-T industry has raised more than $141.2 billion through various deal types, including IPOs, licensing deals, collaborations, and M&A transactions. Itβs important to note that the values of 61 out of 91 licensing deals, 75 out of 110 collaboration deals, and 12 out of 29 M&A deals remain undisclosed. If we estimate the value of these undisclosed transactions, the overall total is likely to reach a staggering $281.7 billion.
Globally Approved CAR-T Therapies
Scientific progress within the field of cancer immunotherapy has led to 13 CAR-T cell therapy approvals globally. While Relma-cel, Yuanruida, Fucaso and Zevor-cel have been approved by NMPA in China, NexCAR19 and Qartemi have been approved in India. The remaining seven therapies were approved by the U.S. FDA, after which approvals for them were issued in other major healthcare markets as well. The 13 products include:
Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) β US FDA
Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) β US FDA
Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel) β US FDA
Breyanzi (lisocabtagene maraleucel) β US FDA
Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) β US FDA
Relma-cel (relmacabtagene autoleucel) β NMPA China
Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) β US FDA
NexCAR19 (actalycabtagene autoleucel) β CDSCO India
Yuanruida (inaticabtagene autoleucel) β NMPA China
Qartemi (varnimcabtagene autoleucel) β CDSCO India
Aucatzyl (obecabtagene autoleucel) β US FDA
Fucaso (equecabtagene autoleucel) β NMPA China
Zevor-cel (zevorcabtagene autoleucel) β NMPA China
All 13 approved CAR-T cell therapies are currently used exclusively to treat blood cancers, which account for less than 5% of cancer patients worldwide. As of February 18, 2025, there are approximately 1,944 ongoing clinical trials (up from 1,881 trials in December 2024) focused on addressing both blood cancers and solid tumors. Of these, only 244 trials are targeting solid cancers. This increase in the number of clinical trials has been driven by the remarkable 90% remission rate achieved by most of the approved CAR-T therapies.