AbbVie has agreed to acquire Capstan Therapeutics, a privately held biotechnology company specializing in in vivo CAR-T cell therapies, for up to $2.1 billion in cash. Capstan, a spin-off from the University of Pennsylvania, is developing CPTX2309, a first-in-class in vivo tLNP anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy currently in Phase 1 clinical trials. This acquisition expands AbbVie's pipeline with experimental treatments targeting autoimmune diseases, fibrosis, and cancer. The deal highlights AbbVie's strategic commitment to advancing next-generation immunology therapies through novel cell engineering technologies. Capstan’s proprietary tLNP platform enables RNA payload delivery to engineer specific cell types in vivo, representing a potentially disruptive approach in the treatment of B cell-mediated autoimmune conditions. The transaction follows a recent trend of increased mergers and acquisitions activity in early-stage gene and cell therapy companies.