# Cellular Biomedicine Group
Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG) was a clinical-stage cell-therapy biopharmaceutical company, founded as a business in 2009 by a team of Chinese-American executives, scientists, and doctors, with manufacturing facilities in [Rockville, Maryland](https://www.edgepedia.org/rockville-maryland) (its future headquarters site) and in Wuxi and Shanghai, listed on Nasdaq until a February 2021 privatization, and renamed AbelZeta Pharma, Inc. in November 2023.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) • [2](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000165495421001892/cbmg_sc13e3a.htm) • [3](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group) • [4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/) It developed immune-cell therapies for cancer, principally chimeric antigen receptor [T cell](https://www.edgepedia.org/t-cell) (CAR-T) candidates, alongside a stem-cell platform for joint and autoimmune disease.
| Key fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Founded | Biomedicine business founded 2009 by Chinese-American executives and scientists; corporate shell (EastBridge Investment Group) incorporated in Arizona June 25, 2001[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) |
| Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland (its future headquarters site as of the 2021 financing), with GMP facilities in Wuxi (2010) and Shanghai (2012)[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) • [4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/) |
| Sector | Cell therapy: CAR-T and related immune-cell platforms, plus adipose-derived stem cells[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) |
| Series A financing | $120 million Series A, announced as closed on September 29, 2021[5](https://www.vcbeathealth.com/article/24304) • [6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html) |
| Lead investors | AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China, and Yunfeng Capital; GIC and TF Capital also subscribed[6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html) |
| Take-private | Merger effective February 19, 2021 at $19.75 per share in cash, roughly $383 million in deal value; Nasdaq delisting[2](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000165495421001892/cbmg_sc13e3a.htm) • [4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/) |
| Status | Renamed AbelZeta Pharma, Inc. in November 2023 after spinning off the stem-cell division[3](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group) |
## History and founding
The corporate entity began far from biomedicine. Cellular Biomedicine Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation, was originally incorporated in Arizona on June 25, 2001 as EastBridge Investment Group Corporation, initially making mobile entertainment products; the biomedicine business was founded in 2009 inside that shell by a team of seasoned Chinese-American executives, scientists, and doctors.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) The company built manufacturing early: a GMP facility in Wuxi opened in 2010, followed in 2012 by a Shanghai facility built to FDA GMP standards.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm)
The US listing and China operations defined the company's structure. CBMG described itself as one of the earliest pure-play biotechnology companies from China approved for listing on the Nasdaq Market.[6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html) Its most prominent partnership came on September 27, 2018, when CBMG (then NASDAQ: CBMG) agreed with Novartis to manufacture and supply the CAR-T therapy Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) in China. Novartis paid $40 million in an equity purchase at $27.43 per share for approximately 9% of the company, and held the exclusive marketing license for the therapy in China.[7](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cellular-biomedicine-group-enters-into-strategic-licensing-and-collaboration-agreement-with-a-global-leader-in-car-t-cell-therapy-for-patients-in-china-300719774.html)
CBMG announced the initiation of its privatization at the end of 2019. Under a Merger Agreement dated August 11, 2020, the merger became effective on February 19, 2021 when a Certificate of Merger was filed in Delaware, and the listed company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBMG Holdings, a [Cayman Islands](https://www.edgepedia.org/cayman-islands) parent.[2](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000165495421001892/cbmg_sc13e3a.htm) Endpoints News reported the take-private as a $383 million deal, undertaken with debt accumulating and open loans casting doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern.[4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/)
## Products, technology and pipeline
CBMG ran two cell platforms: immune-cell therapy for a broad range of cancers using Tcm (central memory T cells), TCR clonality, CAR-T, and anti-PD-1 technologies; and human adipose-derived mesenchymal progenitor cells (haMPC) for joint and autoimmune conditions, with clinical studies in China for knee osteoarthritis and cartilage-defect therapies.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm)
The lead immune-cell candidates at the time of the 2021 financing were C-CAR039, an anti-CD19/CD20 bispecific CAR-T therapy for relapsed or refractory non-[Hodgkin lymphoma](https://www.edgepedia.org/hodgkin-lymphoma), and C-CAR088, a [B cell](https://www.edgepedia.org/b-cell) maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR-T for late-stage relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma.[6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html) A third candidate, C-CAR031, is an autologous armored GPC3-targeting CAR-T for hepatocellular carcinoma co-developed in China with [AstraZeneca](https://www.edgepedia.org/astrazeneca).[3](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group) On the stem-cell side, the haMPC candidates AlloJoin and ReJoin targeted knee osteoarthritis and cartilage defects.[1](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm) • [6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html)
## Funding and investors
After privatization, the renamed holding company raised a $120 million Series A, announced as closed on September 29, 2021.[5](https://www.vcbeathealth.com/article/24304) The company's press release described the round as led by the AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China, and Yunfeng Capital, with new and existing investors including GIC and TF Capital subscribing.[6](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html) BioCentury independently reported the round as led by the AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China, and Yunfeng Capital.[8](https://www.biocentury.com/article/639849/from-nasdaq-to-120m-series-a-cbmg-readies-for-next-phase) VCBeat named the follow-on investors as GIC (the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) and Taifoo Capital.[5](https://www.vcbeathealth.com/article/24304) Endpoints News additionally reported Novartis among the participating investors, a detail the company's own release does not list; the company's announcement is the more specific record of the round's leadership.[4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/)
Other recorded capital events include the 2018 Novartis $40 million equity purchase at $27.43 per share and the $383 million take-private of February 2021.[7](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cellular-biomedicine-group-enters-into-strategic-licensing-and-collaboration-agreement-with-a-global-leader-in-car-t-cell-therapy-for-patients-in-china-300719774.html) • [4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/)
## Clinical traction
CBMG's CAR-T programs entered Phase I clinical trials in China, and its clinical footprint spanned both countries: the Series A proceeds were earmarked for clinical development of C-CAR039 in China and the United States.[3](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group) • [5](https://www.vcbeathealth.com/article/24304) At ASCO 2021 the company reported data for C-CAR039 showing an 84% complete response rate in early patients.[4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/) On the regulatory side, before the November 2023 rebranding the company disclosed an NMPA-approved investigational new drug application for a Phase II trial of AlloJoin and an accepted IND for Phase II testing of ReJoin, alongside ongoing CAR-T Phase I trials in China.[3](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group)
No source in the record shows a commercial approval or commercial sale of any CBMG or AbelZeta therapy; whether any therapy ever reached patients commercially remains unanswered by the available evidence.
## Controversies and the going-private deal
The clearest recorded difficulty was financial. Endpoints News reported that CBMG chose to delist in 2020 as part of the $383 million take-private while debt was accumulating and open loans were casting doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern.[4](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/) The merger's terms, per the Schedule 13E-3/A, converted each outstanding share into the right to receive $19.75 in cash, without interest, and CBMG requested that Nasdaq file a Form 25 to remove the common stock from listing and deregister it.[2](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000165495421001892/cbmg_sc13e3a.htm) The $19.75 cash-out price sat well below the $27.43 per share Novartis had paid in September 2018.[7](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cellular-biomedicine-group-enters-into-strategic-licensing-and-collaboration-agreement-with-a-global-leader-in-car-t-cell-therapy-for-patients-in-china-300719774.html) No lawsuits or regulatory enforcement actions appear in the available record.
## References
1. [CBMG Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000135448815001428/cbmg_10k.htm)
2. [CBMG Schedule 13E-3/A (SEC EDGAR)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1378624/000165495421001892/cbmg_sc13e3a.htm)
3. [Cellular Biomedicine Group — Whiteford Research Biobase](http://biobase.whitefordresearch.com/companies/cellular-biomedicine-group)
4. [Endpoints News — A newly private Novartis partner bags a megaround](https://endpoints.news/a-newly-private-novartis-partner-bags-a-megaround-on-its-first-go-to-turbocharge-car-t-cell-therapy-pipeline/)
5. [VCBeat — CBMG Secures $120 Million Series A Financing](https://www.vcbeathealth.com/article/24304)
6. [CBMG Holdings Completes $120 Million in Series A Funding (PR Newswire, September 30, 2021)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cbmg-holdings-completes-120-million-in-series-a-funding-accelerating-development-of-car-t-therapy-pipelines-and-rd-for-innovative-solid-tumor-therapies-301388836.html)
7. [CBMG–Novartis strategic licensing and collaboration agreement (PR Newswire, September 27, 2018)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cellular-biomedicine-group-enters-into-strategic-licensing-and-collaboration-agreement-with-a-global-leader-in-car-t-cell-therapy-for-patients-in-china-300719774.html)
8. [BioCentury — From NASDAQ to $120M series A, CBMG readies for next phase](https://www.biocentury.com/article/639849/from-nasdaq-to-120m-series-a-cbmg-readies-for-next-phase)
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*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 11, 2026 · Last review: Sep 19, 2026*
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