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Allogene Therapeutics
Allogene Therapeutics, co-founded by David Chang and Arie Belldegrun, develops off-the-shelf CAR T therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease.
Allogene Therapeutics
Allogene Therapeutics was co-founded in 2018 by Arie Belldegrun and David Chang, two executives who previously led Kite Pharma through its acquisition by Gilead Sciences in 2017. The company's core proposition is allogeneic (donor-derived) CAR T cells that can be manufactured in batches and stored for immediate use, bypassing the weeks-long personalized manufacturing required by autologous CAR T products like Yescarta, which Chang helped develop while at Kite (per firm website). The company's pipeline centers on cemacabtagene ansegedleucel (cema-cel), an anti-CD19 CAR T candidate in a pivotal Phase 2 trial called ALPHA3 for first-line consolidation in large B-cell lymphoma. Other programs include ALLO-316 for clear cell renal cell carcinoma and ALLO-329, a dual-targeted CD19/CD70 CAR T candidate for autoimmune diseases. Allogene holds exclusive U.S. rights to certain targets through a collaboration with Servier and a license from Cellectis, and also partners with Arbor Biotechnologies for CRISPR gene-editing and Antion for miRNA technology. Geographically, the company operates primarily in South San Francisco, with its own manufacturing facility called Cell Forge 1, and has expanded the ALPHA3 trial to South Korea and Australia as of April 2026. As of May 2025, the company reported approximately 300 employees on its website. In May 2026, Allogene announced a planned CEO succession, with David Chang transitioning from the CEO role (per firm press release, May 2026). The company has no disclosed AUM, deployment figures, or adjacent investment vehicles; it is a publicly traded biotechnology firm (NASDAQ: ALLO) with institutional and retail shareholders. Allogene's structural differentiator is its singular focus on allogeneic CAR T — a manufacturing-intensive bet that requires solving immune rejection, persistence, and scalability challenges that autologous products have not faced. The company owns its manufacturing facility and invests in multiplex gene-editing to create products that can be dosed repeatedly, which autologous products generally cannot. This architecture makes Allogene more akin to a platform biotech than a traditional drug developer.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2018
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
South San Francisco
Corporate office
South San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Arie Belldegrun
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder
David Chang
President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
Geoffrey Parker
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Zachary Roberts
Executive Vice President, Research & Development, and Chief Medical Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Allogene Therapeutics?
Allogene is a publicly traded biotechnology company, not an investment firm. Strategic decisions are made by its executive team, led by President and CEO David Chang and Executive Chairman Arie Belldegrun, with oversight from its Board of Directors. The board includes representatives from TPG and Two River Group, among others (per firm website).
How does Allogene source proprietary technology?
Allogene develops its AlloCAR T platform in-house but also licenses key technologies externally. It holds exclusive U.S. rights to certain CAR T targets through a collaboration with Servier and a license from Cellectis. It also partners with Arbor Biotechnologies for CRISPR gene-editing and Antion for multiplex miRNA silencing (per firm website).
Is Allogene structured as a family office or a venture firm?
Neither. Allogene is a publicly traded clinical-stage biotechnology company traded on Nasdaq under the ticker ALLO. It is not a family office, asset manager, or venture fund. Its shareholders include institutional investors and the public markets (per SEC filings).
What investment stages does Allogene target?
Allogene does not make investments; it operates as a drug developer. Its pipeline spans preclinical through pivotal Phase 2 clinical trials. The most advanced candidate, cema-cel, is in a pivotal Phase 2 trial (ALPHA3) for first-line consolidation LBCL (per firm website).
Which sectors does Allogene explicitly avoid?
Allogene focuses exclusively on allogeneic CAR T therapies for oncology and autoimmune disease. It does not pursue small molecules, gene therapies outside CAR T, or non-cell therapy modalities. The company's website states it is singularly focused on AlloCAR T products.
How is Allogene related to Kite Pharma?
Allogene was co-founded by Arie Belldegrun and David Chang, who previously led Kite Pharma through its development of Yescarta and its acquisition by Gilead Sciences in 2017. Allogene is a separate, independent company, but its founding team brought deep CAR T expertise from Kite (per firm website).
Does Allogene maintain philanthropic structures?
Allogene's website does not disclose a corporate foundation or philanthropic arm. It lists diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) as a corporate responsibility focus but no separate charitable vehicle.
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