What Gritstone bio does

Gritstone bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Emeryville, California, founded in 2015 and publicly traded on NASDAQ under the ticker GRTS. The company develops immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases using two proprietary technology platforms: an antigen discovery platform that identifies tumor-specific neoantigens for personalized oncology treatment, and a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform that generates more potent and durable immune responses. Gritstone bio's pipeline spans multiple solid tumor indications (melanoma, lung, pancreatic, gastric, triple-negative breast cancer) and infectious disease applications, including a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed with CEPI support and intended for the COVAX facility.

The company targets healthcare providers and oncology patients through its cancer vaccine and immunotherapy pipeline, and pursues development partnerships and licensing arrangements with pharmaceutical companies as its primary commercial pathway. Gritstone bio operates without significant product revenue and depends on external capital raises and development partnerships to fund clinical programs; cumulative disclosed funding exceeds $600M across multiple equity, PIPE, debt, and grant rounds. Strategic investors and partners include Frazier Life Sciences Public Fund, Redmile Group, Gilead Sciences, Hercules Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, and CEPI. The company holds 33 AI-related patent filings as of 2025 and reports clinical-trial data showing its mRNA vaccines elicit NeoAg-specific CD8+ T cell responses comprising 1-5% of the circulating repertoire, supporting the technical foundation of its personalized neoantigen approach.

Name

Gritstone bio

Legal name

Gritstone bio, Inc.

Website

https://gritstonebio.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Gritstone bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing personalized neoantigen cancer vaccines and self-amplifying mRNA immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, targeting oncology patients and pharmaceutical partners while operating without product revenue.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cancer Immunotherapy and Personalized Neoantigen Vaccines

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Personalized Therapeutic Design (neoantigen vaccines, individualized cell/gene therapies) (HLAAANAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Synthetic Biology & Genetic Circuit Design Platforms (pathway engineering, chassis development) (HLAAAIAD), Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering) (HLAAAIAB)

Keywords

• Cancer immunotherapy
• Neoantigen vaccines
• Self-amplifying mRNA
• Personalized oncology
• Infectious disease vaccines

Headquarters

HQ city

Emeryville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. Pre-Revenue Stage: Company operates without significant product revenue and remains dependent on external capital raises and development partnerships to fund clinical programs

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Gritstone bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing personalized neoantigen-based cancer vaccines and immunotherapies. The company uses a proprietary antigen discovery platform to identify tumor-specific neoantigens and combines this with a self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform to create individualized oncology treatments and infectious disease vaccine candidates.

Product overview

Gritstone bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. The company's core offering consists of personalized neoantigen-based cancer vaccines and immunotherapies developed using a proprietary antigen discovery platform that identifies tumor-specific neoantigens for individualized oncology treatments. The company also develops infectious disease vaccine candidates leveraging its self-amplifying mRNA vaccine platform. Gritstone bio operates without significant product revenue and remains dependent on external capital raises and development partnerships to fund its clinical programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Personalized Neoantigen Cancer Vaccines
• Self-Amplifying mRNA (saRNA) Vaccine Platform
• COVID-19 Vaccine (samRNA)
• Multi-Specific Antibody Immunotherapies

Quantifiable outcome

• mRNA vaccines generated NeoAg-specific CD8+ T cell responses comprising 1–5% of circulating repertoire in clinical trials

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Moderna: Moderna is the leading mRNA platform company, with an oncology pipeline that includes personalized neoantigen programs (mRNA-4157). It competes with Gritstone in both mRNA technology and personalized cancer vaccines but at vastly greater scale.
• BioNTech: BioNTech is a leading mRNA immunotherapy company with FixVac and individualized neoantigen programs (acquired through Neon Therapeutics) that directly overlap with Gritstone's personalized cancer vaccine approach.
• Merck & Co. Merck is the maker of Keytruda (pembrolizumab), the dominant checkpoint inhibitor that Gritstone's neoantigen vaccines would likely combine with. Merck also partners with Moderna on mRNA-4157, making it both a potential combination partner and competitive threat.
• Roche / Genentech: Roche/Genentech is a leading oncology developer with checkpoint inhibitor franchises and a broad immunotherapy pipeline that intersects with Gritstone's neoantigen vaccine strategy as both a combination partner and competitive incumbent.

Direct peers

• CureVac: CureVac is a clinical-stage mRNA technology company developing both prophylactic vaccines and oncology therapeutics, overlapping with Gritstone's self-amplifying mRNA and cancer immunotherapy programs as a similarly sized direct competitor.
• Achilles Therapeutics: Achilles Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company developing personalized neoantigen immunotherapies for solid tumors, directly comparable to Gritstone's patient-specific cancer vaccine approach in target indication and stage.

Emerging players

• Vaccibody: Vaccibody (a member of the Nykode Group) develops neoantigen-targeted therapeutic vaccines using a DNA-based vaccine platform, comparable to Gritstone's neoantigen vaccine strategy in oncology indications.
• Personalis: Personalis provides next-generation sequencing-based neoantigen identification and immune profiling for personalized cancer vaccine developers, operating as a complementary/adjacent player to Gritstone's antigen discovery platform.
• Genocea Biosciences: Genocea developed neoantigen cancer vaccines using its ATLAS platform, directly comparable to Gritstone's antigen discovery and personalized immunotherapy approach in oncology vaccine development.
• Transgene: Transgene develops immunotherapies for solid tumors including therapeutic cancer vaccines using viral vectors, overlapping with Gritstone in the personalized cancer vaccine and immunotherapy category.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/gritstonebio
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gritstone-oncology

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds9 records

Investors19 records

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Gritstone bio