J&J pays Sail $785M, charting course to possible in vivo CAR-T buyout

Brought to you by: Biotech J&J pays Sail $785M, charting course to possible in vivo CAR-T buyout By Nick Paul Taylor Jul 30, 2026 5:30am Johnson & Johnson in vivo CAR-T autoimmune disease Cell & Gene Therapy Johnson & Johnson is cruising deeper into in vivo CAR-T waters, paying $785 million upfront to strike a deal that gives it the option to acquire Sail Biomedicines. Big Pharma interest in in vivo CAR-T cell therapies has exploded over the past 18 months. In that time, AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences’ Kite have bet billions on the modality.

Eli Lilly raised the stakes in April, agreeing to pay $3.25 billion upfront to buy Kelonia Therapeutics. J&J has been active too, partnering with Kelonia before the Lilly buyout and advancing internal programs. The Sail agreement represents a bigger bet on the modality.

J&J is paying $785 million upfront, including a $465 million equity investment, and committing up to $140 million in milestones. The drugmaker has an exclusive option to acquire Sail for an additional $2.58 billion. Having partnered, the companies will advance Sail’s “vanguard” in vivo CAR-T program in autoimmune diseases.

The biotech’s pipeline is led by SAIL-0839, an autoimmune disease program targeting CD4 and CD8 T cells. Sail shared details of its work to target the T cells at events over the past 14 months. The biotech used the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy’s 2025 meeting to show how its circular RNA enhances stability and durable expression of CD19 CAR in T cells.

Sail uses nanoparticles to maximize expression of RNA in T cells and binding moieties to increase the efficiency and selectivity of its delivery vehicles. In two mouse models, Sail showed single and short cycles of injections of its drug candidate depleted B cells. The short cycle of injections depleted B cells in lymphoid tissue, which the researchers said is key to durably resetting the immune systems of autoimmune disease patients.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were among the diseases targeted by the researchers. Other companies are targeting the same opportunities. AbbVie’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Capstan Therapeutics centered on CPTX2309, an in vivo anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy that is in phase 1 development in SLE and RA.

BMS acquired a preclinical CD19 autoimmune asset in its $1.5 billion takeover of Orbital Therapeutics, while China’s MagicRNA Biotechnology shared data in SLE last year. The in vivo CAR-T programs build on data showing ex vivo cell therapies can trigger lasting improvements in patients with hard-to-treat autoimmune diseases. While the available data suggest ex vivo CAR-T cell therapies work, they are complex and costly to make and expose patients to the risks of lymphoablative conditioning.

In vivo CAR-Ts could offer an off-the-shelf alternative without the conditioning safety risks. Tom Cavanaugh, company group chairman, North America innovative medicine at J&J, fielded a question about the company’s involvement in in vivo CAR-T last month. Responding to a Goldman Sachs analyst, Cavanaugh said J&J had some programs in-house and a partnership with Kelonia but was yet to disclose any of the targets.

J&J is “quite excited about following that science,” Cavanaugh added at the time. Johnson & Johnson in vivo CAR-T autoimmune disease Cell & Gene Therapy Biotech Deals