Cell therapy's next chapter: Industry embraces in-vivo innovation

Nikhil C Bhanumathi, Principal Clinical Lead, Thermo Fisher Scientific highlights that cell therapy is entering a bold new phase in 2025 as the industry shifts from complex, lab-based ex vivo CAR-T to faster, more accessible in vivo CAR-T innovations. This approach promises to expand access, lower costs, and potentially tackle solid tumors and autoimmune diseases

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The world of cancer treatment is entering a new chapter in 2025.

For more than a decade, CART therapy transformed life for those fighting blood cancers. However, traditional CART (called ex vivo CART) is expensive, complex and available in limited centers. Patients wait for weeks for their cells to be processed and returned. For fast moving cancers such delays can sometime be deadly.

A new approach to tackling these challenges is now rapidly emerging. With the introduction of in-vivo CAR T method, the engineering of T Cells happens inside the patient’s body, not in a laboratory. This could make the treatment faster, safer, and more widely accessible. Now this idea is no longer just talk. Multi-billion-dollar investments are being made for development and capacity building of this new method. Fast progress seen in 2025 is not just hype. Major deals and clinical programs show rising confidence.

AbbVie acquires Capstan Therapeutics for $2.1 billion: AbbVie's acquisition of Capstan signals intent to lead in mRNA-LNP technology, the same technique behind COVID-19 vaccines, now adapted for cancer.

AstraZeneca buys Eso-Biotec for $425 million: AstraZeneca expands its oncology pipeline and in vivo capabilities by acquiring a major player in non-viral gene delivery

Kite Pharma (Gilead) acquires Interius BioTherapeutics for $350 million: Kite, a legacy ex vivo CART leader, now positions itself toward vivo lentiviral vector platforms to stay competitive

What is CART therapy?

Traditional CART therapy uses a patient's own immune cells. Doctors collect T-cells, take them to a lab, equip them with new “antennae” (chimeric antigen receptors, CARs) and infuse them back[nature]. These engineered CART cells then find and destroy cancerous cells. While this strategy has saved lives, especially in leukemia and lymphoma, it comes with several serious challenges: