CREATE Medicines, the Cambridge biotech that started life as Myeloid Therapeutics, has locked down a $122 million Series B, and the company says the cash will push its in vivo CAR-T programs deeper into human testing. The startup, cofounded by Pulitzer Prize-winning oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee, has expanded its sights beyond myeloid cells to broader multi-lineage in vivo programming and autoimmune targets. CEO Daniel Getts said the round is expected to carry the company through its early clinical milestones.
The Series B brought in money from Newpath Partners, ARCH Venture Partners and Hatteras Venture Partners, according to Hatteras Venture Partners. Hatteras also pointed out that CREATE was cofounded by Mukherjee and quoted Newpath founder Tom Cahill saying the company “seemed to fly under the radar” despite early patient data. Investors framed the raise as a bridge to more advanced studies rather than a quick sprint to commercialization.
Pipeline and trials
CREATE is already testing two in vivo programs in patients - a HER2-targeted candidate for breast cancer and an in vivo therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma - and it expects to ask regulators for permission to start its first autoimmune trial in the next few months, according to BioPharma Dive. As its pipeline grew, the company previously put an early glioblastoma effort on pause to reallocate resources. Early-phase clinical notes and preclinical work are being put forward as evidence that in vivo reprogramming can repeatedly and tolerably deplete target cell populations in humans.
Board move and big-pharma interest
Alongside the financing, CREATE recruited Ron Philip to chair its board, a move spotlighted by The Boston Globe. Philip previously led Orbital Therapeutics before its sale. Orbital was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for about $1.5 billion in 2025, according to a Bristol Myers Squibb press release. His arrival brings M&A experience in the in vivo RNA and cell-therapy space as CREATE gears up to scale trials and court potential partners.
Why investors are pivoting
Backers say a series of preclinical and early human signals for in vivo CAR approaches has turned autoimmune disease into an especially appealing commercial target, since focused B-cell depletion might reset immune systems without long manufacturing bottlenecks. Clay Thorp, Hatteras’ cofounder, told the firm’s newsroom that CREATE showed strong preclinical ability to tamp down B-cells, according to the firm’s coverage. At the same time, industry watchers warn that big questions about safety and durability remain as companies move from small early cohorts into broader studies, a concern also flagged by Fierce Biotech.
The raise keeps a Cambridge startup firmly planted in the next wave of cell-therapy bets and signals that Greater Boston will stay a testing ground as venture and big-pharma interest in in vivo CAR strategies builds. For local researchers and employees, the new funding is a reminder that clinical momentum and hiring around next-generation cell therapies are likely to remain concentrated in the region for the foreseeable future.
