On April 17, 2026 CREATE Medicines, Inc. ("CREATE"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering in vivo immune cell programming, reported it will present two posters at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2026, taking place April 17–22, 2026 in San Diego.

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The presentations at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) highlight the CREATE platform in action, showcasing new data across CREATE’s multi-immune in vivo CAR portfolio and introducing the first in vivo data for RetroT, the company’s all-RNA genome integration platform designed to enable stable, durable cell engineering without viral components.

The data demonstrates simultaneous engineering of myeloid cells, NK cells, and T cells with tailored CAR mRNAs driving tumor regression and remodeling of the tumor microenvironment in a colorectal cancer model. First-in-vivo evidence for RetroT demonstrates that CAR T cells engineered without double-strand breaks or viral vectors significantly reduced tumor burden in a leukemia model, validating the platform’s potential as a path to stable, durable CAR expression.

"CREATE was built to rapidly iterate directly from our clinical data and unlock the clear advantages of in vivo cell therapy," said Robert Hofmeister, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of CREATE. "The work we are presenting at AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) underscores this unique capability of our platform, leveraging our experience in over 50 patients to develop the next generation multi-immune CARs or stably integrated mRNA in vivo therapies. These advances position the platform for near-term development of novel scalable therapies across autoimmune and oncology."

CREATE is advancing the broadest portfolio of in vivo CAR therapies, supporting the largest human clinical dataset in the field, built through the application of its integrated mRNA, lipid nanoparticle, and CAR engineering platform. This dataset enables rapid translation from clinical insight to pipeline innovation, informing both current programs and the design of next-generation in vivo CAR therapies.

AACR Poster Presentation Details:

Title: In Vivo CAR mRNA Engineering of T Cells and Myeloid Cells Enables Potent Anti-Tumor Control of Solid Cancers
Date & Time: Sunday, April 19, 2026, 2–5 PM PT
Location: Poster Section 7
Session Category: Immunology
Session Title: Alternative Cell Type and In Situ Cell Therapies
Poster Board #: 18
Abstract #: 144

Title: Stepwise In Vivo CAR T Cell Engineering via Transient RNA Programming and RetroT All-RNA Genome Integration
Date & Time: Monday, April 20, 2026, 9 AM–12 PM PT
Location: Poster Section 53
Session Title: Late-Breaking Research: Immunology 2
Poster Board #: 20
Abstract #: LB155

More information is available on the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting website.

(Press release, Create Medicines, APR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234664485])

On April 17, 2026 Bruker Corporation (Nasdaq: BRKR) reported new updates from Bruker Spatial Biology to be showcased at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting. At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), Bruker Spatial Biology will highlight how its high-fidelity spatial platforms—designed to work together—deliver deeper insights into oncology biology and accelerate translational research.

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At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) 2026, Bruker Spatial Biology will launch new cross‑platform workflows linking GeoMx DSP to CellScape XR and CellScape XR to CosMx SMI, enabling researchers integrate insights across its spatial biology portfolio—revealing biological relationships that cannot be captured with a single modality alone. Bruker Spatial Biology will also debut new 208‑plex datasets from CellScape XR, highlighting flexible subcellular proteomics for rapid, quantitative spatial phenotyping in oncology applications.

These announcements build upon the major spatial biology milestones Bruker introduced earlier this year at the AGBT General Meeting, where the company demonstrated a portfolio engineered for high-fidelity performance within each omic layer. Together, these advances reflect Bruker Spatial Biology’s long‑standing approach: advancing each platform to be best‑in‑class individually, while consistently being first to demonstrate what is possible when spatial data is captured with unmatched depth, resolution, and fidelity—and connected across biological layers.

PaintScape Now Open for Pre‑Orders with Shipments Expected This Quarter

With the PaintScape platform, Bruker is the only company enabling high‑precision, multiplexed, direct visualization of the 3D genome in situ in single cells. PaintScape enables researchers to study chromosomal architecture, spatial genome organization, and structural variation directly within intact biological context, opening new avenues for understanding how genome structure influences gene regulation and disease.

Bruker will launch two new panels for the PaintScape platform, including the ChromoPaint HuCL PanChromo MPX panel, a 419-plex panel designed for genome wide in situ visualization of chromosomal organization in human cell lines. In addition, Bruker will announce the OncoPaint Oncogenic Pathways Panels that will be available later this year, a 1000+-plex modular panel designed to combine genome wide chromosome painting with painting of select cancer pathway associated gene regions in increased genomic resolution.

Commercial shipments of the PaintScape platform are expected to begin later this quarter.

Introducing CellScape XR, the Highest Performing Spatial Proteomics Ecosystem Delivering Best-in-Class Data Fidelity, Robustness and Flexibility

The CellScape XR launch at AGBT represents Bruker’s next-generation advancement in spatial proteomics and introduces what is now the highest fidelity spatial proteomics platform, designed to deliver best‑in‑class data quality, robustness, and assay flexibility.

At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), Bruker Spatial Biology will showcase new 208‑plex spatial proteomics datasets, in collaboration with Niclas Blessin at University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH). This assay was pathology reviewed across 12 distinct neoplastic and non-neoplastic human FFPE tissue samples demonstrating the robustness of the CellScape XR protocol. These capabilities enable deeper interrogation of tumor biology, immune contexture, and signaling heterogeneity, and form a critical bridge between discovery‑scale profiling and translational research, at a scale and rigor required for clinical applications.

Bruker is accepting pre-orders for the CellScape XR, with commercial shipments expected this summer.

CosMx SMI Showcases and Extends Complete Spatial Biology Approach

Bruker has consistently been first to define what is possible with the CosMx SMI platform setting multiple best-in-class benchmarks—including both AI multimodal and 3D segmentation, subcellular spatial imaging of the human whole transcriptome (WTX), and same-cell multiomics (WTX and 64+ proteins). At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), Bruker Spatial Biology will showcase how these high fidelity, high sensitivity capabilities are expanding further—extending subcellular spatial imaging of the mouse whole transcriptome and highlighting emerging applications for studying human disease, such as T‑cell receptor (TCR) and miRNA imaging.

The AtoMx SIP builds on the unparalleled data richness of CosMx SMI to accelerate study‑level insight generation and biological interpretation. At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), Bruker Spatial Biology will reinforce a new spatial discovery workflow with AtoMx SIP, enabling rapid, image‑based exploration of single‑cell and subcellular whole transcriptome datasets through pre‑calculated spatial insights and streamlined data exports designed for conversational large language model (LLM) workflows. Applying LLMs to the comprehensive, high fidelity spatial data generated by CosMx SMI enables richer, higher quality outputs than are possible with lower resolution or lower content approaches, delivering a more interactive and intuitive experience for biological discovery. In addition, Bruker Spatial Biology will showcase new 3D AI‑based cell segmentation models that extend its best‑in‑class definition of single‑cell boundaries, improving RNA transcript assignment in tissue and addressing long standing limitations of segmentation approaches that fail to account for overlapping cells.

Bruker is accepting pre-orders for the Mouse CosMx WTX.

GeoMx Discovery Multiomics Platform Showcases Unmatched Spatial Biomarker Discovery at Scale with Whole Transcriptome and 1200+ Protein Targets

With GeoMx DSP, Bruker was the first to establish spatial biology at discovery scale and has continued to lead by demonstrating what is possible from discovery through translational research and clinically oriented applications. GeoMx DSP was first to enable high‑plex, same‑slide whole transcriptome and protein multiomics, and later to demonstrate spatial proteomic profiling of more than 1,200 antibodies on tissue with the Discovery Proteome Atlas. At AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper), Bruker Spatial Biology will showcase how GeoMx DSP is the only spatial platform to now simultaneously connect RNA pathway, protein, and post-translational modification (PTMs) across different layers of biology. The breadth of this spatial multiomics data is now informing researchers of biological pathways that are both transcriptionally active and driving functional response. GeoMx DSP further anchors large cohort biomarker and signature discovery and now connects seamlessly to downstream validation and spatial phenotyping workflows with CellScape XR on the same tissue section.

In addition to its spatial biology portfolio, Bruker will present complementary solutions including the nCounter Analysis System for bulk multiomics and the Beacon Platform, including Beacon Discovery, supporting downstream translational workflows and functional live single‑cell biology.

(Press release, Bruker, APR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234664501])

On April 17, 2026 MiNK Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: INKT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering allogeneic invariant natural killer T (allo-iNKT) cell therapies to restore immune balance and treat immune-mediated diseases and cancer, reported data from an investigator-initiated Phase II trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, evaluating agenT-797, MiNK’s allo-iNKT cell therapy, in combination with botensilimab (BOT) and balstilimab (BAL), ramucirumab and paclitaxel in patients with advanced PD-1 refractory gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. The data are being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting, taking place April 17-22, 2026, in San Diego, CA.

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This Phase II trial—the first to evaluate agenT-797 in combination with BOT and BAL in patients with gastroesophageal cancer progressing after frontline therapy, was designed to assess the impact of immune priming and sequencing, with patients receiving induction (agenT-797 alone or with BOT/BAL) followed by combination therapy, or the combination without induction, alongside longitudinal biomarker analyses; in this study (n=17), treatment achieved a 77% disease control rate (DCR) with long-term survival beyond 20 months in a subset, with emerging signals in patients who received the induction strategy had meaningful improvements in PFS (6.9 vs. 3.5 months; HR 0.19; p=0.015) and OS (9.5 vs. 5.2 months), with 43% of patients alive at 12 and 18 months—highlighting durability and survival, rather than response rate, as the most relevant measures of clinical benefit in this PD-1 refractory setting.

"This study reinforces the potential of agenT-797 as an immune orchestrator capable of re-engaging anti-tumor immunity in highly resistant cancers," said Jennifer Buell, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MiNK Therapeutics. "These findings suggest that sequencing of treatment may be as important as the treatment itself, as we observed longer survival without disease progression in patients who received an early immune-priming step before the full regimen, together with evidence of immune activation and tumor microenvironment remodeling. The durability of survival observed in induction-treated subset, together with evidence of immune activation, is central to how we, our potential partners, and the FDA evaluate meaningful outcomes and will shape our next phase of development in this hard to treat population."

Efficacy findings from the Phase II (n=17) study included:

DCR was observed in 77% of all treated patients, and long-term survival beyond 20 months was seen in a subset of patients.
Patients treated with an induction cycle had longer progression-free survival (PFS) than those treated without induction, with median PFS of 6.9 months versus 3.5 months (HR 0.19; p=0.015), supporting the potential importance of immune priming and treatment sequencing.
Median overall survival (OS) was 9.5 months in the induction cohort versus 5.2 months without induction, with 43% of induction-treated patients alive at both 12 and 18 months, compared with 20% and 0%, respectively, in the non-induction cohort.
The study did not meet its primary endpoint of ORR; however, disease control and longer-term survival observed in a subset of patients support further study of this approach.
Correlative analyses showed that treatment with BOT, BAL, and agenT-797 was associated with significant intratumoral T cell and dendritic cell infiltration, the formation of organized tertiary lymphoid structures in on-treatment biopsies from a patient with prolonged benefit, and activation of peripheral CD4 and CD8 T cells.

The safety profile was consistent with the component agents. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events among all patients included fatigue, fever, diarrhea, anorexia, nausea and mucositis.Immune-related adverse events included dermatitis, colitis, gastritis, enteritis, hepatitis and hypothyroidism.

Additional analysis of the full biospecimen dataset is ongoing and is expected to provide further insight into immune mechanisms, optimal sequencing, and potential biomarkers that could help identify patients most likely to benefit.

Presentation Details:

Abstract Title: A phase II study of agenT-797, botensilimab (BOT) and balstilimab (BAL) in PD-1 refractory gastroesophageal cancer (GEC)
Presenter: Samuel L. Cytryn M.D.; Gastrointestinal Medical Oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Session Name: Phase II and Phase III Clinical Trials
Date/Time: April 20, 2026 | 2:00–5:00 PM PT; 5:00-8:00 PM EDT
Poster Section: 52
Abstract No.: CT166

(Press release, MiNK Therapeutics, APR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234664517])

On April 17, 2026 Immatics N.V. (NASDAQ: IMTX, "Immatics" or the "Company"), the global leader in precision targeting of PRAME with multiple clinical-stage programs spanning cell therapies and bispecifics, reported that an abstract highlighting a pediatric patient treated with a PRAME-directed cell therapy using Immatics’ PRAME T-cell receptor (TCR) has been accepted for a late-breaking poster presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego, California, USA. The patient case will be presented on April 21, 2026, at 2:00 pm PDT (Late-Breaking Research: Clinical Research 3; Poster Section 52; Poster Board Number 7; Abstract Number LB326) by the treating physician, Dr. med. Christian M. Seitz, Group Leader at the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ).

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The abstract highlights the case of a 17-year-old adolescent with PRAME-positive advanced nephroblastoma, a malignant kidney cancer that predominantly occurs in children. The patient had rapidly progressing disease with metastases to the lung, liver and brain with an abdominal lesion measuring 16 cm in longest diameter. After exhausting all available treatment options and being ineligible for any ongoing clinical trial, the treating physician requested Immatics’ PRAME-directed TCR (encoded by the IMA203CD8 lentiviral vector) for an individual experimental treatment attempt (named-patient use; "Individueller Heilversuch" in Germany) at KiTZ, where a TCR T-cell therapy was manufactured. Following treatment, the patient experienced a deep anti-tumor response, with remission observed three months post-infusion and ongoing at six months of follow-up. PET scan and MRI imaging demonstrated marked tumor regression across all lesion sites. Additionally, liquid biopsy monitoring showed no more tumor-derived DNA, indicating molecular remission. Safety events reported in the abstract by the treating physician included cytokine release syndrome, which was manageable and resolved under multi-modal anti-cytokine therapy and corticosteroids. At six months of follow-up, the patient is in excellent physical condition.

"We are very grateful to Immatics for providing the PRAME-directed TCR that enabled us to reprogram the pediatric patient’s cells. We hope that possible further clinical evaluation may demonstrate the potential of PRAME-targeted cellular immunotherapies in helping other children and adolescents with cancer, as seen in this patient," said Christian M. Seitz, M.D., treating physician and Group Leader of the Translational Immunotherapy group at KiTZ, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD).

About Immatics’ PRAME-Directed Cell Therapie

Immatics is developing PRAME-directed TCR T-cell therapies engineered to recognize an intracellular PRAME-derived peptide presented by HLA-A*02:01 on the surface of tumor cells and to initiate a potent and specific anti-tumor response.

Immatics’ PRAME-directed cell therapies are being evaluated in clinical trials across multiple PRAME-positive solid tumors in adult patients. Its lead PRAME cell therapy candidate, anzu-cel (anzutresgene autoleucel, IMA203) is currently being evaluated in a registration-enabling Phase 3 trial "SUPRAME" in previously treated advanced cutaneous melanoma and a Phase 2 trial in metastatic uveal melanoma. In addition, Immatics is evaluating its second-generation PRAME cell therapy, IMA203CD8, in a Phase 1a dose escalation trial in patients with PRAME-positive solid tumors, with a focus on gynecologic cancers.

About PRAME

PRAME is a target expressed in more than 50 cancers. Immatics is the global leader in precision targeting of PRAME and has the broadest PRAME franchise with the most PRAME indications and modalities. The Immatics PRAME franchise currently includes three product candidates, two therapeutic modalities and two combination therapies that target PRAME: anzu-cel (anzutresgene autoleucel, IMA203) PRAME cell therapy, IMA203CD8 PRAME cell therapy (GEN2), IMA402 PRAME bispecific as monotherapy and in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor as well as anzu-cel in combination with Moderna’s PRAME mRNA designed to enhance cell therapy.
Cedrik Britten, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Immatics, added, "Seeing such a profound response in a pediatric patient who had no treatment options left is both remarkable and deeply encouraging for everyone dedicated to making a meaningful impact on the lives of patients with cancer. It reinforces our belief in PRAME as a powerful target and highlights the potential of cell therapy for pediatric cancers, where tumors often show high PRAME expression. These results support continued evaluation of PRAME-directed cell therapies in pediatric cancers while exploring new therapeutic options for children facing such devastating diseases."

PRAME is a tumor target present on the cell surface of more than 50 cancers and can be targeted by TCR T-cell therapies. Based on the high PRAME expression across multiple different pediatric tumors in combination with the potential benefit of particularly strong immune responses in young patients, PRAME TCR T-cell therapies may offer a promising new treatment option for these patients. Immatics is planning to evaluate the potential of its PRAME TCR T-cell therapy candidates in pediatric patients with cancer and is assessing multiple options for clinical development including a potential first-in-pediatrics Phase 1/2 basket study in pediatric patients with HLA-A*02:01-positive, PRAME-expressing relapsed or refractory solid tumors at KiTZ in Heidelberg.

(Press release, Immatics, APR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234664470])

On April 17, 2026 Marengo Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering precision immunotherapies for oncology and inflammation and immunology (I&I), reported multiple presentations that highlight clear progress for key assets at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting taking place April 17-22, 2026 in San Diego, CA.

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Findings to be shared include late-breaking interim Phase 2a clinical results from Marengo’s ongoing STARt-002 Phase 1b/2a trial of invikafusp alfa plus TRODELVY as part of a collaboration with Gilead Sciences and the first public disclosure of its second precision T cell activator from the STAR program, IPN01203/STAR0501, being advanced in partnership with Ipsen in the prestigious New Drugs on the Horizon session.

"Combining invikafusp alfa with ADC-mediated immunogenic tumor killing is a scientifically compelling approach, and it is exciting to see this translate into meaningful clinical responses in patients with metastatic breast cancer," said Kevin Chin, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Marengo Therapeutics. "The observation of confirmed complete responses in heavily pretreated breast cancer patients that did not respond to any prior therapy further reinforces our confidence in this novel combination. As enrollment progresses rapidly, we look forward to reporting additional data that both validate our platform and potentially offer a critical new treatment option in a disease with high unmet need."

The initial Phase 2a data build on results presented at the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, demonstrating encouraging clinical activity with invikafusp alfa plus TRODELVY (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer patients, including confirmed complete responses, across both metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and HR+/HER2- breast cancer.

To date, invikafusp alfa with TRODELVY has shown a safety profile consistent with the known profiles of the individual agents. Pharmacodynamic analyses further confirmed that invikafusp alfa maintains its mechanism of action in a combination regimen, driving robust and selective expansion of Vβ6/Vβ10 T cells. The STARt-002 Phase 1b/2a trial is actively enrolling patients at select cancer centers across North America, with enrollment expected to be completed later this year.

"In a heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer population, the observation of confirmed complete responses is notable and warrants attention," said Erika Hamilton, M.D., Chief Development Officer, Late Phase and Director of Breast Cancer Research. "While these are early data, the activity observed across both TNBC and HR+/HER2− subtypes, along with a safety profile consistent with the individual agents, supports further clinical evaluation of this combination."

In parallel, Marengo will highlight the continued advancement of the STAR platform through its collaboration with Ipsen. The next clinical candidate, IPN01203/STAR0501, has been selected for an oral presentation during the New Drugs on the Horizon session.

"Together with Marengo, we are advancing a novel precision T cell activation approach with the potential to transform treatment paradigms in solid tumors," said David Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Head of Research and External Innovation at Ipsen. "The rapid progression of this program into the clinic underscores the strength of our collaboration and the quality of scientific execution, and we look forward to exploring its clinical potential."

"We are excited to see the second STAR program advance into the clinic with Ipsen and to share these important data with the scientific community," said Zhen Su, M.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Marengo Therapeutics. "This milestone reflects both the strength of our platform and the productivity of our collaboration as we work together to bring novel immunotherapies to patients with solid tumors."

Additional presentation details are as follows:

Presentation: Initial clinical and translational results and selection of recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) from START-002: A Phase 1b/2 study of invikafusp alfa, a first-in-class dual T-cell agonist, in combination with sacituzumab govitecan in metastatic triple-negative or HR+/HER2- breast cancer
Abstract Number: LBA045 / 5

Session: First-in-Human Phase I Clinical Trials

Date/Time: Monday April 20, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT

Presentation: Development of IPN01203, a dual T cell agonist activating Vβ6/Vβ10 TCR-expressing T cells
Abstract Number: ND12

Session: New Drugs on the Horizon: Part 3

Date/Time: Monday, April 20, 10:15 AM – 11:45 AM PT

(Press release, Marengo Therapeutics, APR 17, 2026, View Source [SID1234664486])