IN8bio (NASDAQ:INAB) CEO and co-founder William Ho outlined the company’s strategy to develop cellular therapies based on gamma delta T cells, highlighting clinical progress in glioblastoma and leukemia as well as a newer internal T-cell engager program aimed at oncology and autoimmune applications.
Pipeline overview and near-term readouts
Ho said the company has two ongoing cell therapy programs, including one in leukemia patients undergoing transplantation and another in glioblastoma, with patients in both programs reported to be beyond three years progression-free. He also described a more recent internal effort to develop T-cell engagers that activate gamma delta T cells.
- INB-100: an allogeneic (donor-derived) cell therapy in leukemia patients undergoing transplantation. Ho said the company is enrolling an expansion cohort and expects to complete enrollment and dosing “near term,” with updated Phase 1 data expected toward the end of the year.
- INB-200 / INB-400: genetically modified gamma delta T cells designed for solid tumors, with a focus on newly diagnosed glioblastoma. Ho said INB-200 is an investigator-initiated trial and INB-400 is a corporate-sponsored multicenter study.
- INB-619: a CD19-targeting T-cell engager platform designed to bind the gamma delta T-cell receptor and incorporate a gamma delta expansion domain.
Glioblastoma approach and trial design
Ho emphasized the challenge of glioblastoma heterogeneity, describing how infiltrating tumor cells left behind after surgery can drive recurrence. He said IN8bio’s approach leverages the DNA damage response pathway: conventional chemotherapies can increase innate immune markers on tumor cells, even in chemotherapy-resistant glioma cells, but doses required to drive these markers can also harm white blood cells.
To address that issue, Ho said the company engineered gamma delta T cells to resist chemotherapy, allowing administration alongside maintenance chemotherapy. In the newly diagnosed glioblastoma protocol he described, patients generally undergo surgical resection (with a catheter inserted into the tumor bed), then after a 3–4 week rest, blood is collected to manufacture a personalized product. During maintenance chemotherapy (five days of chemotherapy on a 28-day cycle), the company adds an infusion of the genetically modified gamma delta T cells through the catheter on the first day of chemotherapy.
Patients were treated across multiple centers, which Ho listed as the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Cleveland Clinic, Moffitt, and Ohio State. He said 17 patients have been treated with the company’s cells. He also noted the company identified 10 contemporaneously enrolled patients who consented but were not treated for reasons including declining treatment or inability to manufacture product, and said those individuals were used as a matched comparison group.
Reported glioblastoma outcomes and safety observations
Ho said the company has seen no major toxicity signals to date, including no major adverse events such as cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity, and that treatment activity appeared consistent across centers.
In the comparison Ho presented, the standard-of-care control group achieved a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 6.6 months. In patients who received three to six doses of the gamma delta T cells, Ho said median PFS increased to 13 months. He added that multiple patients have remained progression-free for two years, and highlighted one patient with a grade 4 IDH mutant glioma who he said remains alive and progression-free at more than 4.6 years.
Ho reported that the control patients achieved a median overall survival (OS) of 13.2 months. In the repeat-dose treated cohort, he said median PFS was 13 months, and as of the end of December 2025, OS was 17.2 months and “still climbing,” with additional updates expected at a medical meeting mid-year. He also described an analysis ranking patients by age and MGMT status, stating that 10% of control patients remained progression-free longer than expected compared with 57% of treated patients.
He further pointed to histopathology findings, including paired biopsy examples, and said treated-patient samples showed infiltration of gamma delta T cells as well as CD3 and CD8 T cells. Ho said the company plans to seek FDA guidance on a potential registrational path forward for the glioblastoma program and expects to return to investors “later this summer” with feedback from those discussions.
INB-619: CD19 gamma delta T-cell engager platform
Ho said IN8bio developed INB-619 internally after observing competitors shift from oncology toward autoimmune disease, and he laid out the company’s rationale for focusing on a different engager biology than the conventional CD3-targeting approach. He argued that targeting CD3 can recruit multiple T-cell compartments and contribute to cytokine release syndrome, which in turn can limit dosing in autoimmune settings.
According to Ho, INB-619 includes a CD19 targeting domain, a domain that targets the gamma delta T-cell receptor (covering delta 1 and delta 2 subsets), and an undisclosed “gamma delta expansion domain.” He presented preclinical results showing B-cell killing across donors with varying baseline gamma delta T-cell percentages, citing an EC50 of 36 picomolar. He also described data showing expansion of both delta 1 and delta 2 gamma delta compartments and cytokine profiles in which “CRS cytokines, such as IL-6,” were described as flat in his presented assays.
Ho said the company compared INB-619 with commercially available B-cell depleters, including Amgen’s blinatumomab and Roche’s mosunetuzumab, and stated INB-619 appeared as potent or more potent in the presented killing curves. He also highlighted IL-6 comparisons, stating that the company’s 5,000 picomolar dose produced IL-6 levels similar to 28 picomolar of mosunetuzumab, which he characterized as a wider therapeutic window.
Financing and upcoming milestones
Ho said the company recently completed a financing led by Coastland Capital, describing an initial $20.1 million raise that he said would support progress through mouse B-cell depletion data for INB-619 by late summer. He said those mouse data would trigger an additional $20.1 million tranche, extending runway through 2027. In response to a question about capital, Ho added that the first tranche provides capital into the first half of next year and that Franklin Templeton participated alongside existing and new investors.
Ho summarized upcoming milestones as:
- Public, peer-reviewed publication of the glioblastoma data
- FDA discussions to seek guidance on a potential regulatory path for the glioblastoma program
- Mouse data for INB-619 showing safety and B-cell depletion by late summer
- INB-100 leukemia program updates, including completion of enrollment and dosing and presentation of data at a medical meeting toward the end of the year
In a Q&A, Ho said the median time to glioblastoma progression historically is about 6.9 months and that historical median overall survival is about 14.6 months, while the company’s progression-free survival is “coming close to historical overall survival.” He added that the company’s overall survival is currently about 17 months and still maturing.
About IN8bio (NASDAQ:INAB)
IN8bio, Inc (NASDAQ: INAB) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. The company leverages insights into the body’s innate and adaptive immune systems to engineer cell-based products designed to target solid tumors, brain injuries and cognitive decline.
IN8bio’s pipeline is built on two proprietary platforms. The ENACT™ platform centers on allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapies aimed at solid tumors, with lead candidates advancing through early-stage clinical trials in glioblastoma and other oncology indications.
