March Bio's Perfect Score: A New Hope in T-Cell Lymphoma Treatment

HOUSTON, TX – December 08, 2025 – In the world of biotechnology, perfection is a word used with extreme caution. Yet, at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting this week, Houston-based March Biosciences presented interim data that came astonishingly close. The company announced that its investigational CAR-T cell therapy, MB-105, achieved a 100% complete response rate in the initial cohort of a Phase 2 trial for patients with relapsed or refractory T-cell lymphoma, a notoriously aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancer.

For a patient population that has often exhausted all other options, this result is more than a promising statistic; it's a profound beacon of hope. The news sent a ripple of excitement not just through the oncology community, but also among investors watching for the next major disruption in cancer care. It signals a potential breakthrough in a field that has desperately needed one and places March Biosciences squarely in the innovation spotlight.

The Unforgiving Landscape of T-Cell Lymphoma

To understand the significance of March Bio's announcement, one must first appreciate the bleak landscape of T-cell lymphoma. These diverse and aggressive blood cancers account for only about 10% of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Their rarity is matched by their ferocity. While initial chemotherapy regimens can induce remission, relapse is common, and the outlook for patients whose disease returns or never responds to treatment—termed relapsed/refractory (R/R)—is grim.

For these R/R patients, median survival is often measured in months, not years, with some studies reporting three-year survival rates below 20%. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), which sets the standard of care guidelines, frequently recommends that patients with T-cell lymphoma enroll in clinical trials, a tacit acknowledgment that existing approved therapies are often insufficient. Patients in the MB-105 trial were a testament to this reality, having already failed between two and eight prior systemic cancer treatments.

"These patients had exhausted multiple treatment options, yet we achieved responses in every evaluable patient with manageable side effects," said Dr. Swami Iyer, a Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the study's Principal Investigator. His statement underscores the critical unmet need that MB-105 aims to address—providing a powerful new option where the current arsenal falls short.

Engineering a Smarter Living Drug

The technology behind MB-105 is CAR-T cell therapy, a revolutionary approach that reprograms a patient's own immune T-cells into cancer-killing machines. These engineered cells, often called a "living drug," are infused back into the patient to seek and destroy malignant cells. While CAR-T has been transformative for B-cell cancers, applying it to T-cell malignancies has been fraught with a unique challenge: fratricide. Because the engineered CAR-T cells are themselves T-cells, they can carry the same surface protein as the cancer, causing them to attack and destroy each other before they can mount an effective attack on the tumor.

March Biosciences' innovation lies in its proprietary design targeting CD5, a protein found on most malignant T-cells. The therapy has been engineered to effectively target these cancerous cells while demonstrating robust expansion and persistence in the body—a key indicator of a durable response. The data presented at ASH showed that the engineered cells comprised a mean of 75% of all circulating T-cells by day 14 post-infusion and persisted beyond day 28, suggesting a powerful and sustained anti-cancer effect.

"The 100% complete response rate we’ve observed in the evaluable primary cohort, along with the favorable safety profile and robust CAR-T expansion, gives us tremendous confidence as we advance this potentially transformative therapy,” said Sarah Hein, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of March Biosciences. This confidence is bolstered by an acceptable safety profile, a critical hurdle for any new CAR-T therapy, which can sometimes cause severe side effects like cytokine release syndrome (CRS).

From Academic Spinoff to Commercial Contender

March Biosciences' journey is a classic tale of modern biotech innovation. Launched from the prestigious Center for Cell and Gene Therapy—a collaboration between Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, and Texas Children’s Hospital—the company has successfully translated cutting-edge academic research into a promising clinical asset. With over $53 million raised from venture financing and grants from institutions like the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the company has built a solid foundation to navigate the costly and complex path of drug development.

Crucially, the company has also been savvy in its regulatory strategy. MB-105 has received both Orphan Drug Designation and Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This combination is a powerful accelerator. Orphan Drug status provides seven years of market exclusivity upon approval, a vital incentive for developing treatments for rare diseases. More immediately, the RMAT designation allows for more frequent communication with the FDA and eligibility for accelerated approval, potentially shortening the timeline from clinical trial to patient access.

These designations signal that the FDA recognizes both the dire need for new T-cell lymphoma treatments and the potential for MB-105 to fundamentally change the standard of care. For investors and potential partners, this de-risks the regulatory pathway and elevates March Bio from a scientific curiosity to a serious commercial contender.

The journey for MB-105 is far from over. The data, while spectacular, is from an early safety cohort of just five evaluable patients. The Phase 2 trial is now advancing and enrolling more patients, and the durability of these complete responses will be the key metric to watch. The company anticipates presenting updated results at medical conferences in 2026, which will be scrutinized by clinicians, competitors, and the market. Still, for a disease defined by disappointment, this early, perfect score represents the most significant innovation in years and a powerful new reason for optimism.