Senti Biosciences Holdings, Inc. Announces a Strategic Transaction to Unlock Value for its Gene-Circuit-Enabled Pipeline, Including SENTI-202, and to Sharpen its Focus on Next-Generation Controllable Genetic Medicines Powered by its Regulator DialTM Technology Platform
•Senti Biosciences Holdings, Inc. to Advance Controllable Cell and Gene Therapies Leveraging the Regulator Dial PlatformTM
•Spin-off of Senti Biosciences, Inc., including SENTI-202, Aims to Unlock Value via Contingent Value Right to Potential Future Milestone Payments of up to $60 Million for Logic-Gated SENTI-202 Development and Commercialization
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 15, 2026 - Senti Biosciences Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNTI) ("SBH" or the "Company") today announced a strategic transaction designed to sharpen its focus on next-generation controllable genetic medicines powered by its Regulator DialTM technology platform (the "Retained Assets") and unlock value for its Gene-Circuit-enabled pipeline, including SENTI-202, currently being advanced by its wholly owned subsidiary, Senti Biosciences, Inc.
Under the terms of this transaction, a newly formed privately held biotechnology company ("NewCo") controlled by affiliates of Celadon, the Company's largest investor, will acquire the Company's assets relating to its Gene-Circuit-enabled pipeline, including the rights to SENTI-202 in exchange for a contingent value right (a "CVR"), which will be distributed to equity holders providing up to $60 million in milestone payments over a seven-year period tied to the future success of SENTI-202.
After the closing of the transaction, SBH plans to seek additional financing to allow its team to focus on advancing early-stage programs built around its proprietary Regulator Dial™ platform, including a controllable gene therapy for Rett Syndrome and controllable, armored tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes ("TILs") for solid tumors designed to improve efficacy and safety. SBH believes this technology addresses one of the most important challenges in modern biotechnology-the ability to dynamically control powerful genetic medicines after they have been administered to patients. Both retained SBH programs build upon the Company's foundation at the intersection of synthetic biology and artificial intelligence to accelerate and optimize Regulator-Dial-powered therapies.
As previously announced here (https://investors.sentibio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/senti-bio-receives-fda-regenerative-medicine-advanced-therapy), SENTI-202 was granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapies (RMAT) designation by FDA and exhibited durable Measurable Residual Disease (MRD)-negative responses from a 22 patient Phase 1 trial, which compares favorably with current FDA approved therapies for relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In addition, the Company has identified a specific attribute in its NK donors ("Donor X characteristic") that correlates with efficacy of SENTI-202, with 50% (7/14) of the patients achieving a composite CR (cCR) when they received any SENTI-202 doses manufactured from Donor X-characteristic-derived NK cells in Cycle 1. The Donor X characteristic is found in ~50% of adult donors, is independent of HLA or KIR matching, and will be used in all future SENTI-202 manufacturing, thus supporting SENTI-202's allogeneic off-the-shelf usage.
NewCo intends to continue development of SENTI-202, an FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT)-designated clinical stage asset for AML and other blood cancers, as well as other Logic Gate-enabled therapies for solid tumors and Gene-Circuit-powered programs, such as in vivo CAR.
The CVR milestone structure consists of:
•$10 million upon filing and acceptance of a Biologics License Application (BLA) for SENTI-202;
•$20 million upon FDA approval of a BLA for SENTI-202; and
•$30 million upon achievement of $200 million in cumulative net sales of SENTI-202.
The CVR structure is intended to give SBH's stockholders value in connection with future development, regulatory, and commercial achievements while enabling the NewCo to focus resources on advancing SENTI-202 and the Gene Circuits franchise.
"This transaction will allow the two companies to focus their resources and accelerate the delivery of powerful new genetic medicines to patients across multiple categories and diseases while allowing the SBH stockholders to potentially benefit from the success of both entities," said Timothy Lu, M.D., Ph.D, the Company's CEO.
The transaction has been approved by SBH's board of directors and remains subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by SBH's stockholders and other conditions set forth in the definitive agreement.
Additional information regarding the proposed transaction, including a copy of the definitive transaction agreement and the form of agreement governing the CVRs, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by SBH with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at sec.gov.
About Senti Biosciences Holdings
SBH is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a new generation of cell and gene therapies for patients living with incurable diseases. To achieve this, the Company is leveraging its synthetic biology platform to engineer Gene Circuits into new medicines with enhanced precision and control. These Gene Circuits are designed to precisely kill cancer cells, to spare healthy cells, to increase specificity to target tissues, and/or to be controllable even after administration. The Company's wholly owned pipeline comprises cell therapies engineered with Gene Circuits to target challenging liquid and solid tumor indications. The Company's Bio's Gene Circuits have been shown preclinically to work in both NK and T cells. The Company has also preclinically demonstrated the potential breadth of Gene Circuits in other modalities and diseases outside of oncology, and continues to advance these capabilities through partnerships.
Following the closing of the proposed transactions, SBH plans to be a synthetic biology company developing next-generation controllable genetic medicines powered by its proprietary Gene Circuit platform. The Company will be advancing programs in Rett syndrome and programmable armored TIL
therapies through its Regulator DialTM technology and leverages expertise in synthetic biology and artificial intelligence to engineer safer, more effective, and more controllable cell and gene therapies.