Medeor Therapeutics

What Medeor Therapeutics does

Medeor Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing personalized cellular immunotherapies based on a mixed chimerism platform exclusively licensed from Stanford University. The company was founded in 2013 by Stanford immunologists Samuel Strober, Edgar Engleman, and Robert Lowsky after more than 20 years of academic research on transplant tolerance. Its lead product candidate, MDR-101, is a single-infusion cellular therapy manufactured from a living kidney donor's blood and bone marrow cells (including CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells and CD3+ T cells), designed to establish mixed chimerism—coexistence of recipient and donor immune cells—and induce donor-specific immune tolerance in HLA-matched living donor kidney transplant recipients. Medeor's pipeline also includes MDR-102 for HLA-mismatched living donor kidney transplants (Phase 1/2), MDR-103 for delayed tolerance in prior transplant recipients, and MDR-301 for adult sickle cell disease.

The Phase 3 MERCURY trial of MDR-101 met its primary efficacy endpoint with 12 of 20 patients (63%) achieving two years off all immunosuppressive drugs versus a protocol-anticipated 48% success rate; Phase 2 follow-up has shown durability exceeding 10 years. MDR-101 has received FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation, Orphan Drug Designation in both the US and EU, and was studied under an FDA Special Protocol Assessment. The company is pre-revenue with no products approved or commercialized, has suspended operations, and is publicly soliciting potential acquirers to complete the BLA filing. Business development inquiries are directed to [email protected]. Revenue realization is contingent on a future acquirer advancing MDR-101 and pipeline assets through regulatory approval and commercialization.

Name

Medeor Therapeutics

Legal name

Medeor Therapeutics, Inc.

Website

https://medeortx.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Closed

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Medeor Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing personalized cellular immunotherapies based on a Stanford-licensed mixed chimerism platform, with lead candidate MDR-101 designed to induce immune tolerance in kidney transplant recipients. The company has suspended operations and is seeking acquirers to complete BLA filing.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cellular Immunotherapy / Transplant Tolerance Biopharmaceuticals

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Therapy Developers (Autologous) (HLAAABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Stem Cell Therapies (MSC/iPSC/HSC-derived) (HLAAABAE), Personalized Therapeutic Design (neoantigen vaccines, individualized cell/gene therapies) (HLAAANAK)

Keywords

• Cellular immunotherapy
• Mixed chimerism platform
• Transplant immune tolerance
• Kidney transplant therapy
• Regenerative medicine

Headquarters

HQ city

South San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Cellular Immunotherapy (Pre-Revenue): Medeor is a clinical-stage company that has not yet commercialized any products. The company has suspended operations and is seeking potential acquirers to complete BLA filing. Revenue will depend on successful regulatory approval and commercialization of MDR-101 and pipeline products.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Medeor Therapeutics develops personalized cellular immunotherapy product candidates based on mixed chimerism technology, designed to induce donor-specific immune tolerance in organ transplant recipients. Lead candidate MDR-101 is a single-infusion cellular therapy manufactured from a living kidney donor's blood and bone marrow cells, intended to enable HLA-matched kidney transplant recipients to discontinue lifelong immunosuppressive drug therapy while preserving graft function.

Product overview

Medeor Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a portfolio of personalized cellular immunotherapy product candidates based on mixed chimerism technology, originating from 20 years of Stanford University research. The platform enables coexistence of recipient and donor blood/immune cells to induce donor-specific immune tolerance. The product portfolio includes MDR-101 for HLA-matched living donor kidney transplants (Phase 3), MDR-102 for HLA-mismatched transplants (Phase 1/2), MDR-103 for delayed tolerance applications (Phase 2 planned), and MDR-301 for sickle cell disease. These are patient-specific cellular therapies manufactured from donor blood and bone marrow cells, designed as single-dose infusions to reduce or eliminate lifelong immunosuppressive drug therapy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MDR-101 Cellular therapy manufactured from a living kidney donor's blood and bone marrow cells for HLA-matched living donor kidney transplant recipients. Designed to establish mixed chimerism, enabling transplant patients to discontinue all immunosuppressive drug use while preserving long-term transplant kidney function.
• MDR-102 Cellular immunotherapy for kidney transplant recipients with HLA-mismatched living donors. Uses a different proprietary composition than MDR-101, intended to reduce risk of kidney rejection, minimize anti-rejection drug therapy, and improve long-term transplant kidney function and survival.
• MDR-103 Cellular therapy for delayed tolerance in transplant patients who received an HLA-matched living donor kidney transplant months or years prior. Intended to allow these patients to eliminate all immunosuppressive drug use while preserving transplant kidney function and survival.
• MDR-301 Product candidate targeting adult patients with hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell anemia and sickle-beta-thalassemia major. Contains CD34+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells intended to establish stable mixed chimerism and produce red blood cells with normal hemoglobin to reduce sickle cell disease-related symptoms including debilitating pain crises from vaso-occlusive episodes.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Stanford UniversitycoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology platform originated from research that began 20 years ago at Stanford University. Breakthrough technologies were discovered and developed at Stanford and exclusively licensed to Medeor. Scientific founders Samuel Strober, Edgar Engleman, and Robert Lowsky are professors at Stanford University School of Medicine.
• University of Wisconsin (Dr. Dixon Kaufman)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Dixon Kaufman, Medical Director of UW Health Transplant Center at University of Wisconsin, serves as Lead Principal Investigator for the MERCURY Phase 3 clinical trial. Presented interim results at ASN Kidney Week 2020 and provided commentary on 2023 results.
• ASN Kidney Week (American Society of Nephrology)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMedeor presents clinical trial data at ASN Kidney Week annual conferences. 2023 presentation was a late-breaking oral presentation in High-Impact Clinical Trials session. 2020 presentation reviewed safety and efficacy data.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Talaris Therapeutics: Closest direct competitor—Talaris developed FCR001, a cell therapy platform based on mixed chimerism for inducing immune tolerance in living donor kidney transplant recipients, addressing the same transplant-tolerance market as Medeor's MDR-101.
• Dendreon: Pioneer in autologous cellular immunotherapy (Sipuleucel-T/Provenge); co-founded by Medeor scientific founder Samuel Strober. Demonstrates the commercial viability and challenges of patient-specific cell therapy products in regulated markets.

Broad incumbents

• Allogene Therapeutics: Leading allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy developer with a broader pipeline across multiple oncology indications. Relevant as a peer in cell therapy development infrastructure, manufacturing scale-up, and regulatory navigation.
• Iovance Biotherapeutics: Commercial-stage cell therapy company (Amtagvi for melanoma) with autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte platform. Comparable as a peer in autologous cell therapy manufacturing, regulatory pathway, and commercial launch execution.
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals: Vertex's Casgevy (exa-cel) is an FDA-approved gene-edited cell therapy for sickle cell disease, directly comparable to Medeor's MDR-301 program. Demonstrates regulatory and commercial benchmarks for cell therapies in hemoglobinopathies.
• Bluebird Bio: Developed Lyfgenia (lovo-cel) for sickle cell disease, providing a direct competitive benchmark for Medeor's MDR-301 program in hemoglobinopathies using cell-based genetic approaches.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb: Owner of approved cellular immunotherapies (Breyanzi, Abecma) and a major transplant franchise via belatacept (Nulojix). Relevant as a strategic acquirer type and a peer in both cell therapy and transplant immunosuppression markets.
• Novartis: Markets Kymriah, the first FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapy, and has a major transplant immunosuppression portfolio. Comparable as a cell therapy and transplant-medicine incumbent and a likely strategic acquirer profile.

Emerging players

• Editas Medicine: Gene-editing company developing therapies for sickle cell disease and other hemoglobinopathies. Comparable as a peer in advanced cell-based therapies targeting MDR-301's patient population.
• Adaptimmune Therapeutics: Cell therapy company developing engineered T-cell therapies (Tecelra) for solid tumors. Comparable in cell therapy modality, regulatory pathway for individualized cellular products, and commercial-stage execution challenges.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/medeor-therapeutics

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Medeor Therapeutics