Dispatch Bio Presents SEND T Cell Armoring Strategy at ASGCT 2026 Annual Meeting

SEND is a novel synthetic cytokine receptor designed to enable simultaneous activation of multiple T cell signaling pathways to enhance T cell efficacy and durability

SEND demonstrates strong anti-tumor activity with clean safety profile in solid tumor models

Designed to overcome limitations of single-cytokine strategies, representing a potentially best-in-class breakthrough for the treatment of cancer

PHILADELPHIA & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dispatch Bio, a biotech company engineering a universal treatment across solid tumors leveraging its first-in-class Flare platform, today announced the presentation of new preclinical data supporting its SEND (Synthetic Efficacy eNableD) T cell armoring strategy at the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 2026 Annual Meeting, taking place May 11–15, 2026, in Boston. The data will be presented in a poster entitled, “SEND – A T cell armoring strategy that incorporates simultaneous signaling through multiple pathways for optimized safety and efficacy via novel cell state,” during a poster session on Thursday, May 14, from 5:00–6:30 p.m.

SEND is a novel T cell armoring strategy designed to overcome the limitations of supportive cytokine signals in the tumor microenvironment by utilizing a synthetic cytokine receptor to simultaneously activate multiple pathways required for optimal T cell function. Preclinical data show that SEND outperforms current benchmarks for armored T cell performance in high bar solid tumor models and has the potential to optimize safety and efficacy profiles of a multitude of immunotherapy treatments.

“Engineering T cells with a single cytokine signal often forces a tradeoff between proliferation, persistence, and effector function in engineered T cells,” said Lex Johnson, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Platform Officer. “SEND is designed to eliminate those compromises by coordinating multiple signaling pathways within the same cell, resulting in a fundamentally new T cell state with the potential for best-in-class performance. We look forward to sharing our findings at the upcoming ASGCT conference.”

“Based on these data, we believe SEND could have broad applicability across engineered T cell approaches, including autologous CAR T therapies, in vivo CAR T approaches, and TCR-based therapies, amongst others,” said Barbra Sasu, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer. “We are advancing SEND as a foundational T cell armoring strategy, as we continue to work toward a world in which all people with cancer can be cured.”

SEND-armored CAR T cells demonstrated robust anti-tumor activity in vivo, achieving tumor clearance at low doses, while remaining well tolerated at all doses tested with a 200X+ therapeutic window. Moreover, this activity was observed with or without lymphodepleting chemotherapy, which has the potential to significantly improve patient treatment options in the clinic. Single-cell RNA sequencing of tumor-infiltrating CAR T cells armored with SEND revealed, for the first time in published literature, simultaneous enrichment of effector and memory gene programs within the same cell, demonstrating robust expansion without exhaustion and contraction following tumor clearance, supporting controlled, antigen-dependent activity and a favorable safety profile.

About Dispatch Bio

Dispatch Bio was founded with a bold purpose: to help create a world where all cancer patients can be cured. To achieve this, the company is engineering a universal treatment across solid tumors, leveraging its first-in-class Flare platform. This novel approach combines the strengths of immunotherapy with a tumor-specific virus, both engineered to clear tumor cells with precision and power. Dispatch has operations in Philadelphia and San Francisco, with access to world-class researchers. To learn more, visit www.dispatchbio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.