Persistence Therapeutics

In vivo CAR-T company developing Synthnode, a dime-sized implantable scaffold that acts as a synthetic lymph node, generating and gradually releasing CAR-T cells inside the patient rather than in an external manufacturing facility. The stated target is solid tumors, where conventional CAR-T has been least effective. Incorporated in Delaware on 2024-02-27 and authorized in North Carolina on 2025-06-26; principal office at 123 W Franklin St, Suite 550, Chapel Hill.

Technology licensed from UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University, conceived in Pritha Agarwalla's postdoctoral research with Yevgeny Brudno and Gianpietro Dotti. Performance claims for Synthnode, including sub-day vein-to-vein time and cost under a third of conventional CAR-T, are preclinical and company-stated. The company hopes to enter clinical trials by 2027 and has IND-enabling work outstanding.

Non-dilutive capital includes a $650,000 NC Biotechnology Center Strategic Growth Loan, described as NCBiotech's largest-ever one-time award of that kind, a $24,000 NCBiotech Flash Grant in 2019 supporting the proof-of-concept work, and a $314,685 NIH/NCI project grant awarded 2025-09-22. Jupiter Bioventures, the biotech foundry co-founded by board chair Ned Sharpless, provided undisclosed seed funding that satisfied the loan's matching-investment requirement.

The company has no website of its own as of August 2026: persistencetx.com does not resolve, and persistence.bio belongs to a different company working on chronic-infection antivirals.