Kotak Alts backs Indian cell and gene therapy startup Cellogen with $2.4M
What's the deal? Kotak Alternate Asset ManagersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (Kotak Alts), through its Kotak Life Sciences Fund I, has invested INR 200M (~$2.4M) in Cellogen TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an Indian biotech startup developing cell and gene therapies. The funding will advance Cellogen's CAR-T clinical programmes, expand its gene therapy pipeline, and strengthen its GMP-compliant manufacturing and regulatory capabilities.
Founded in 2021, Cellogen is led by Dr. Gaurav Kharya and Dr. Tanveer Ahmad and is backed by NATCO PharmaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Its lead asset is a bispecific, dual-antigen CAR-T therapy designed to reduce relapse — a persistent problem with current treatments. The company is working toward Phase I human clinical trials in collaboration with CMC Vellore.
Cellogen also operates an integrated manufacturing facility in Noida with in-house CAR design and lentiviral vector production, enabling significantly lower treatment costs compared to global benchmarks.
Why now? India faces a high burden of blood cancers and genetic blood disorders such as beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease, yet access to advanced therapies like CAR-T remains severely limited — largely due to cost. Global CAR-T treatments can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient, pricing out most of the developing world.
"Cellogen is working to address this gap through an indigenous, IP-led platform that brings together next-generation science and cost-efficient development," said Ashish Ranjan, director at Kotak Alts. He noted that the company's bispecific CAR-T programme places it "among a small group working on advanced multi-targeted CAR-T approaches globally."
What could go wrong? Cell and gene therapies are among the most complex and heavily regulated areas in medicine. Phase I trials are just the beginning of a long, uncertain regulatory path. Scaling manufacturing while maintaining quality and keeping costs low is a formidable challenge — especially for an early-stage company.
Competition is also intensifying globally, with major pharma companies and well-funded startups pursuing similar multi-targeted CAR-T approaches.
The signal: Cellogen sits at the early growth stage, yet it already has the backing of NATCO Pharma, a mature generics giant built on making oncology drugs affordable — a pairing that underscores the commercial logic of developing advanced therapies in India at a fraction of Western costs. Kotak Alts' deployment through a dedicated life sciences fund points to a maturing investor ecosystem around Indian biotech, one that is increasingly willing to back capital-intensive cell and gene therapy platforms rather than safer bets in medtech or digital health.
Read more: pninews.com
