This year, the first patient was treated with an Autolus therapeutic through the NHS, representing an important milestone for UK biotechnology.
The treatment, obecabtagene autoleucel (obe-cel), has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for NHS use. It is to be used to treat adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer, where other treatments have not been effective. The availability of this new and innovative therapeutic via the NHS provides an effective therapy for a group of patients who previously had limited therapeutic options.
We last reported on Autolus in 2016 as a promising new spin-out from University College London (UCL), founded on the research of Dr Martin Pule. Since then, Autolus has achieved an important milestone. It has taken a product through registrational studies, generating safety and efficacy evidence for the therapeutic, to achieve commercial licensure in the US, UK and EU.
Autolus has crossed the so-called ‘valley of death’, where innovations are halted in their journey to a commercial product, commonly experienced by start-up biopharma companies and is now generating revenue.
The problem and solution
Autolus has focused on engineered immune cell therapies from the start. For many patients whose cancers have become resistant to standard therapies like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, few good treatment options remain. Engineered immune cells are effective in treating very resistant cancers, and in some settings could result in long-term remissions in patients with resistant cancers.
Our bodies’ immune cells focus mainly on finding infections and infected cells and usually ignore cancer cells. However, scientists are now able to get our immune cells to recognise cancer cells, using something called CAR T cell therapy. Here, a patient’s immune cells are genetically engineered so they are ‘re-programmed’ to detect and eliminate cancer cells. This treatment is partly personalised in that each patient has a therapy manufactured specifically for them.
Autolus licensed CAR T cell technology from UCL Ventures (UCL’s commercialisation arm), initially focused on developing CAR T cell therapies that target rare forms of cancer.
Immune cell re-programming in action
In 2016, Professor Pule told us:
I have no doubt that in 20 years’ time highly engineered immune cells will be the mainstay of cancer therapy.
After performing well in clinical trials, in January 2026, the first patient was treated with the Autolus CAR T cell therapy treatment obe-cel through the NHS.
Obe-cel is recommended by NICE for the treatment of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in patients aged 26 and over. NICE provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care in the UK, including services provided by the NHS. NHS use of the treatment is currently reserved for those who have not responded to other treatments or have relapsed. Two thirds of adults with B-cell ALL do not find relief in first line therapies, or relapse, so this innovation provides real hope for patients.
Each year around 800 people are diagnosed with, and 230 people die from ALL in the UK. B cell ALL is the most common type of ALL, making up 75% of cases.
The therapy could be administered to around 50 NHS patients each year in England.
About Autolus
The foundations of Autolus were built on discovery research funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council. This demonstrates how investment in fundamental science can lead to innovative therapies.
However, it is sustained investment in new innovations that allows them to move towards commercialisation. To this end, BBSRC also supported the spin-out of Autolus to help them begin to commercialise their bioscience. Since then, Innovate UK has aided the translation of Autolus’ therapeutics to clinical use, including funding the development of scalable and commercially viable manufacturing processes for their therapies.
Autolus have gone on to secure multiple rounds of external investment and, as of 2025, they had raised £1.2 billion since they were first established in 2014.
The company is headquartered in the UK, where it has invested in a new 70,000 square foot manufacturing facility, creating 400 jobs here. It has also expanded to locations in Switzerland, Germany and the US.
Next steps
Autolus continue to investigate ways in which their therapies can help patients and change lives. Their technology could be applied to autoimmune diseases, engineering immune cells to target rogue and harmful immune cells, and other cancers, benefiting a wider range of patients.
Clinical trials are currently underway investigating the use of obe-cel for children with B-cell ALL and for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common type of the autoimmune disease lupus.
Early results from the trial of obe-cel for treatment resistant SLE look promising, and real signs of improvements for patients were observed.
Katie Tinkler, one of the patients involved in the study said:
I can participate in life now whereas before I had to watch my family and friends doing physical activities from the sidelines.
At my daughter’s wedding I danced all night. The summer before, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.
Autolus’ capabilities and expertise are set to unlock a new generation of disease treatments.
Find out more
Read our 2016 impact story on Autolus