# Alaunos Therapeutics (formerly Ziopharm Oncology)

Source: https://onco.cc/companies/alaunos/  
OnCo record `alaunos` (Company). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Alaunos, previously Ziopharm Oncology, developed non-viral TCR-T cell therapies against neoantigens in solid tumours with MD Anderson, after earlier phase 3 programmes with palifosfamide and darinaparsin; it wound down its clinical work in 2023.

## Summary

Ziopharm Oncology, renamed Alaunos Therapeutics in 2022 and based in Houston, ran phase 3 trials of the alkylating agent palifosfamide in soft-tissue sarcoma and small-cell lung cancer in the early 2010s that failed, then moved into cell therapy: IL-12 gene therapy for glioblastoma with Intrexon and, with MD Anderson, a library of T-cell receptors against shared neoantigens in KRAS, TP53 and EGFR delivered by non-viral Sleeping Beauty transposition (TCR-T). The company halted its TCR-T trial and cut staff in 2023 to seek strategic alternatives. It appears on OnCo as a lead sponsor of phase 3 cancer trials on ClinicalTrials.gov.

## Fields

- Kind: Company
- Last checked: 2026-09-11
- Also known as: Alaunos Therapeutics; Ziopharm Oncology; ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.
- Tags: ctgov-sponsor
- HQ: Houston, TX
- Type: cell-therapy
- Website: https://www.alaunos.com

## Sources

- Official website: https://www.alaunos.com
- ClinicalTrials.gov: trials led by Ziopharm Oncology: https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?lead=Ziopharm%20Oncology
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziopharm_Oncology

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST)](https://onco.cc/cancers/sarcoma/), [Small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/sclc/)
- fronts: [Cell Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/cell-therapy/)
- technologies: [TCR-T cell therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/tcr-t/)
- institutions: [MD Anderson Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/md-anderson/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/alaunos.json