On November 12, 2025 Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYEL), a late-stage clinical company advancing next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for patients with cancer, reported financial results and business highlights for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025.

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Lyell’s lead clinical program, rondecabtagene autoleucel (ronde-cel, or LYL314), is an autologous dual-targeting CD19/CD20 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product candidate under evaluation in PiNACLE, a single-arm pivotal trial enrolling patients with relapsed and/or refractory (R/R) large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) in the third- or later-line (3L+) setting and in a Phase 1/2 trial in the 2L setting. A second pivotal trial, PiNACLE – H2H, which is a Phase 3 head-to-head CAR T-cell therapy randomized controlled trial of ronde-cel for LBCL in the 2L, is expected to begin by early 2026. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted ronde-cel Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation for the treatment of patients with R/R LBCL receiving treatment in the 2L setting in November 2025 to complement the RMAT designation received for ronde-cel in the 3L+ setting in April 2025.

Lyell recently acquired exclusive global rights (outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) to LYL273, a novel autologous guanylyl cyclase-C (GCC)-targeted CAR T-cell product candidate in development for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) and other GCC-expressing cancers from Innovative Cellular Therapeutics. At the highest dose level studied to date, patients with mCRC treated with LYL273 in a Phase 1 clinical trial conducted in the United States achieved a 67% confirmed overall response rate (ORR) and an 83% disease control rate per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 based on local site review, with a manageable safety profile. LYL273 is a GCC-targeted CAR T-cell product candidate enhanced with CD19 CAR expression and controlled cytokine release designed to improve cell expansion, immune cell infiltration and cell killing in the hostile tumor microenvironment.

"Lyell is well positioned with two next-generation CAR T-cell product candidates, each with promising clinical data. We look forward to effectively executing on both clinical programs taking full advantage of our expertise in CAR T-cell clinical development and our wholly-owned manufacturing facility capable of commercial launch," said Lynn Seely, MD, President and CEO of Lyell. "We will be presenting new ronde-cel clinical and translational data at the upcoming ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) meeting and exposition and are focused on rapidly advancing the pivotal development of ronde-cel through our two pivotal programs: PiNACLE – H2H, which is expected to begin enrolling patients receiving treatment in the 2L setting by early 2026, and PiNACLE, our ongoing single-arm pivotal trial for patients receiving treatment in the 3L+ setting."

Third Quarter Updates and Recent Business Highlights

Lyell is advancing a pipeline of next-generation CAR T-cell product candidates targeting cancers with large unmet need and substantial patient populations. Ronde-cel is in pivotal development for patients with R/R LBCL and LYL273 is in Phase 1 clinical development for refractory mCRC. Lyell’s pipeline also includes additional preclinical programs targeting undisclosed solid tumor indications.

Ronde-cel: A next-generation dual-targeting CD19/CD20 CAR T-cell product candidate designed to increase complete response rates and prolong the duration of response as compared to approved CD19‑targeted CAR T-cell therapies for the treatment of LBCL

Ronde-cel is an autologous CAR T-cell product candidate with a true ‘OR’ logic gate to target B cells that express either CD19 or CD20 with full potency. It is manufactured with a process that enriches for CD62L-positive cells to generate more naïve and central memory CAR T cells with enhanced stemlike features and antitumor activity. Following successful End-of-Phase 1 meetings with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Lyell announced the initiation of two pivotal trials – PiNACLE and PiNACLE – H2H. PiNACLE is a single-arm pivotal trial that is currently underway. It is a seamless expansion of the 3L+ cohort of the Phase 1/2 trial of patients with R/R LBCL. PiNACLE – H2H is a Phase 3 head-to-head CAR T-cell therapy randomized controlled trial for LBCL in the 2L. Enrollment in PiNACLE – H2H is expected to begin by early 2026 and until then the Phase 1/2 trial continues to enroll patients with R/R LBCL receiving treatment in the 2L setting.

The FDA has granted ronde-cel Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) and Fast Track designations for the treatment of R/R diffuse LBCL in the 3L+ setting. RMAT provides all the benefits of the Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designation programs and enables increased frequency of communications with the FDA on the development of ronde-cel.

PiNACLE is a single-arm pivotal trial evaluating ronde-cel at a dose of 100 x 106 CAR T cells in patients with LBCL receiving treatment in the 3L+ setting. The trial is expected to enroll approximately 120 patients with R/R LBCL. Patients may be treated with ronde-cel in either the inpatient or outpatient setting, and there is no upper age limit for eligibility. The primary endpoint of the trial is the overall response rate, including an evaluation of duration of response.
Two abstracts highlighting new clinical and translational data from the Phase 1/2 trial of ronde-cel for the treatment of aggressive LBCL have been accepted for oral presentation at the ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) 67th Annual Meeting and Exposition in December 2025.
Updated data from the PiNACLE trial will be presented at ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper). Data from this trial are expected to form the basis of a Biologics License Application submission to the FDA in 2027 for patients with R/R LBCL receiving treatment in the 3L+ setting.
The FDA has granted ronde-cel RMAT designation for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory LBCL receiving treatment in the 2L setting. RMAT designation recognizes the potential of ronde-cel to address significant unmet needs of patients with LBCL and enables an increased frequency of communications with the FDA on the development of ronde-cel.
PiNACLE – H2H is a Phase 3 head-to-head CAR T-cell therapy trial, which will evaluate ronde-cel versus an investigator’s choice of approved CD19 CAR T-cell therapies (lisocabtagene maraleucel or axicabtagene ciloleucel) in patients with aggressive LBCL receiving treatment in the 2L setting. Patients randomized to ronde-cel will be treated with a dose of 100 x 106 CAR T cells. The primary endpoint of the trial is event-free survival. The trial is expected to enroll approximately 400 patients with R/R LBCL (200 per arm). Patients may be treated with ronde-cel in either the inpatient or outpatient setting.
Clinical site initiation is underway for PiNACLE – H2H in the United States, Canada and Australia, and the first patient is expected to be enrolled by early 2026.
Lyell recently announced the formation of an expert steering committee comprised of a distinguished group of lymphoma and cell therapy experts who will collaborate with the Company on the design and conduct of PiNACLE – H2H.

LYL273: A next-generation GCC-targeted CAR T-cell product candidate enhanced with CD19 CAR expression and controlled cytokine release designed to improve outcomes for patients with mCRC

LYL273 is a GCC-targeted CAR T-cell therapy enhanced with CD19 CAR expression and controlled cytokine release to increase cell expansion, immune cell infiltration and cancer cell killing in the hostile tumor microenvironment. LYL273 was granted Fast Track designation for the treatment of mCRC by the FDA.

Dose-dependent clinical activity was observed in patients with refractory mCRC in a U.S. Phase 1 clinical trial.
Across both dose levels, the overall response rate was 50% (6 of 12 patients), and the disease control rate was 83%. At Dose Level 2, the highest dose tested to-date, the overall response rate was 67%, including one patient with a pathological complete response, one patient with complete reduction in tumor volume of the target lesions (100% partial response) and two additional patients with confirmed partial responses. For patients treated at Dose Level 2, the disease control rate was 83%, and the median progression-free survival was 7.8 months.
The incidence and severity of treatment-related adverse events were highest at Dose Level 2, where the most common treatment-related adverse events were cytokine release syndrome in 83% (5/6) of patients (Grade 1, 67%; Grade 2, 17%) and diarrhea in 83% (5/6) of patients (Grade 1, 33%; Grade 2, 33%; Grade 3, 17%). The median duration of diarrhea was 11 days. Immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome occurred in 33% (2/6) of patients (Grade 2, 17%; Grade 3, 17%) and resolved rapidly with treatment. One patient experienced a dose-limiting toxicity at Dose Level 2, including Grade 3 diarrhea, Grade 4 enterocolitis and death from fungal sepsis 48 days post-infusion. No Grade 3 or higher diarrhea occurred in the last three patients treated since establishing an optimized management protocol for diarrhea, including prophylaxis.
The U.S. Phase 1 clinical trial is continuing to enroll patients to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose.
The next data update from this Phase 1 clinical trial is expected in the first half of 2026.

Preclinical Pipeline, Technologies and Manufacturing Protocols

Lyell is advancing next-generation fully-armed CAR T-cell product candidates, each including multiple technologies, designed to overcome T-cell exhaustion and the lack of durable stemness, as well as immune suppression within the hostile tumor microenvironment.

The first IND for a fully-armed CAR T-cell product candidate with an undisclosed target for solid tumors is expected in 2026.

Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Lyell reported a net loss of $38.8 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, compared to a net loss of $44.6 million for the same period in 2024. The $5.7 million decrease in net loss was primarily due to decreased personnel expenses, including a $2.4 million reduction in stock-based compensation expense attributable to lower headcount and the reduced value of new equity awards granted. The decrease was partially offset by a $4.0 million loss related to the put/call asset issued to certain institutional and other accredited investors as part of our July 2025 securities purchase agreement. Non‑GAAP net loss, which excludes stock-based compensation, non-cash expenses related to the change in the estimated fair value of success payment liabilities and certain non-cash investment gains and charges, decreased to $29.1 million for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025, compared to $37.1 million for the same period in 2024, primarily due to decreased personnel expenses resulting from lower headcount and lower interest income primarily driven by decreased interest rates in 2025 coupled with lower cash equivalent and marketable securities balances.

(Press release, Lyell Immunopharma, NOV 12, 2025, View Source [SID1234659840])