BrainChild Bio raises $116M to advance CAR-T therapy for pediatric brain cancer

BrainChild Bio has closed a $116 million Series A financing to advance CAR-T therapies for central nervous system tumors, led by an undisclosed private family fund and foundation, with participation from Seattle Children’s and WRF Capital.

The funding will support ILLUMINATE, a pivotal Phase 2 trial of BCB-276 for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare and usually fatal pediatric brainstem cancer affecting roughly 250–300 U.S. children annually.

BCB-276 is an autologous CAR-T therapy targeting B7-H3 and is administered into the cerebrospinal fluid to reach the tumor site. The open-label, single-arm trial plans to enroll about 75 newly diagnosed patients, with data expected in 2028.

The company has reportedly dosed the first patient. The trial’s primary endpoint is overall survival, with safety, tumor response, cerebrospinal-fluid drug presence and progression-free survival among the secondary measures.

BrainChild will also use the financing to advance BCB-214, a preclinical CAR-T therapy targeting B7-H3, EGFR and IL13Rα2, toward initial testing in glioblastoma and other brain tumors.

The company originated from Seattle Children’s Hospital and was launched to translate more than a decade of CNS CAR-T research into treatments for pediatric—and eventually adult—brain cancers.