Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. (RNAC)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our unaudited consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report and with our audited financial statements and the notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on March 9, 2026. In addition, you should read the “Risk Factors” and “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” sections of this Quarterly Report and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We are a late clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering cell therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. We leverage our proprietary technology and manufacturing platform to introduce mRNA into cells to provide a therapeutic effect to patients suffering from a variety of autoimmune conditions. Unlike DNA, mRNA degrades naturally over time without integrating into the cell’s genetic material. Our cell therapies are designed to be dosed repeatedly like conventional drugs, administered in an outpatient setting, and given without pre-treatment chemotherapy, which is required with many conventional cell therapies.

Financial Operations

To date, we have financed our operations primarily through public offerings and private placements of our securities, funding received from research grants, collaboration and license arrangements and credit facilities. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales.

We incurred net losses of $23.4 million and $1.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025, respectively. As of June 30, 2026, we had an accumulated deficit of $845.8 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we:

•continue to advance Descartes-08 for myasthenia gravis, or MG, through Phase 3 development;

•advance Descartes-08 for myositis into Phase 2 development;

•continue to develop our preclinical and clinical-stage product candidates;

•seek regulatory approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;

•maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio, including through licensing arrangements;

•hire additional staff, including clinical, scientific and management personnel; and

•incur additional costs associated with continuing to operate as a public company.

Until we can generate substantial product revenues, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings and license and collaboration agreements. We may be unable to raise capital when needed or on reasonable terms, if at all, which would force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts. We will need to generate significant revenues to achieve profitability, and we may never do so.

We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash as of June 30, 2026 will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect.

Components of our Results of Operations

Collaboration and license revenue

To date, we have not generated any revenue from product sales. Our revenue consists primarily of collaboration and license revenue, which includes amounts recognized related to upfront and milestone payments for research and development funding under collaboration and license agreements. We expect that any revenue we generate will fluctuate from quarter to quarter because of the timing and amounts of fees, research and development reimbursements and other payments from collaborators. We do not expect to generate revenue from product sales for at least the next several years. If we or our collaborators fail to complete the development of our product candidates in a timely manner or fail to obtain regulatory approval as needed, our ability to generate future revenue will be harmed, and will affect the results of our operations and financial position. For further

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descriptions of the agreements underlying our collaboration and license revenue, see Note 12, “Revenue Arrangements” to our unaudited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Quarterly Report.

Grant revenue

We generate grant revenue, which consists of funding received to perform specific research and development services under grant arrangements.

Research and development expenses

Our research and development expenses consist of internal and external research and development costs, which primarily include fees paid to contract research organizations, internal manufacturing and quality related expenses, process development costs, internal research and development expenses, as well as fees paid to contract manufacturing organizations. These costs are primarily associated with compensation expenses for our research and development employees, capital equipment and supplies for our process development and manufacturing process, and other related expenses. Our internal research and development employees as well as our indirect costs are shared across multiple development programs and are not solely dedicated to individual programs.

We expense research and development costs as incurred. Conducting a significant amount of research and development is central to our business model. Product candidates in clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of development, primarily due to the size, duration and cost of clinical trials. The successful development of our clinical and preclinical product candidates is highly uncertain. Clinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from our expectations. For example, if the FDA or another regulatory authority were to require us to conduct clinical trials beyond those which we currently expect will be required for the completion of clinical development of a product candidate, or if we experience significant delays in enrollment in any of our clinical trials, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time to complete any clinical development.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related benefits, including stock-based compensation, related to our executive, finance, business development and support functions. Other general and administrative expenses include facility-related costs not otherwise allocated to research and development expenses, travel expenses for our general and administrative personnel and professional fees for auditing, tax and corporate legal services, including intellectual property-related legal services.

Interest income

Interest income consists primarily of income earned on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Interest expense

Interest expense consists of contractual interest related to the Loan and Security Agreement, or the Loan Agreement, with K2 HealthVentures LLC, or K2HV, as administrative agent, certain financial institutions party thereto as lenders (including K2HV) and Ankura Trust Company, LLC, as collateral trustee. The Loan Agreement provides for a senior secured term loan facility with aggregate commitments of up to $150.0 million available in four tranches, or the Term Loan Facility, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent. In addition to contractual interest, interest expense includes amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discounts, accretion of the final payment fee and amortization of deferred debt issuance costs and deferred debt discounts.

Gain (loss) on change in fair value of warrant liability

Common warrants classified as liabilities are remeasured quarterly at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a component of earnings.

Gain (loss) on change in fair value of embedded derivative

Derivatives classified as liabilities are remeasured quarterly at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a component of earnings.

Gain (loss) on change in fair value of contingent value rights liability

The contingent value rights liability is remeasured quarterly at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a component of earnings.

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Other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of non-operating income and non-operating expenses.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 and 2025

Grant revenue

During the three months ended June 30, 2026, we recognized no grant revenue, compared to $0.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2025, a decrease of $0.3 million. Grant revenue recognized during the three months ended June 30, 2025 was under the grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, or NINDS.

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Research and development expenses

The following is a comparison of research and development expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 (in thousands, except percentages):

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto and other financial information included elsewhere in this Annual Report. In addition to historical information, some of the information contained in the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. You should review the “Risk Factors” section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in the following discussion and analysis.

Overview

We are a late clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering cell therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. We leverage our proprietary technology and manufacturing platform to introduce mRNA into cells to provide a therapeutic effect to patients suffering from a variety of autoimmune conditions. Unlike DNA, mRNA degrades naturally over time without integrating into the cell’s genetic material. Our cell therapies are designed to be dosed repeatedly like conventional drugs, administered in an outpatient setting, and given without pre-treatment chemotherapy, which is required with many conventional cell therapies.

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Merger

On November 13, 2023, the Company (formerly known as Selecta) merged with the private Delaware corporation which, immediately prior to the Merger, was known as Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc., in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, by and among Selecta, First Merger Sub, Second Merger Sub, and Old Cartesian. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, First Merger Sub merged with and into Old Cartesian, pursuant to which Old Cartesian was the surviving corporation and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Selecta. Immediately following the First Merger, Old Cartesian merged with and into Second Merger Sub, pursuant to which Second Merger Sub was the surviving entity. In connection with the Second Merger, Old Cartesian changed its name to Cartesian Bio, LLC. In connection with the Merger and pursuant to the Merger Agreement, the Company changed its corporate name to Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. See Note 4, “Merger” to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 for more information regarding the Merger.

Financial Operations

To date, we have financed our operations primarily through public offerings and private placements of our securities, funding received from research grants, collaboration and license arrangements and a credit facility. We do not have any products approved for sale and have not generated any product sales.

We incurred a net loss of $130.3 million and $77.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. As of December 31, 2025, we had an accumulated deficit of $822.4 million. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future as we:

•continue to advance Descartes-08 for MG through Phase 3 development;

•advance Descartes-08 for myositis into Phase 2 development;

•continue to develop our preclinical and clinical-stage product candidates;

•seek regulatory approvals for any product candidates that successfully complete clinical trials;

•maintain, expand and protect our intellectual property portfolio, including through licensing arrangements;

•hire additional staff, including clinical, scientific and management personnel; and

•incur additional costs associated with continuing to operate as a public company.

Until we can generate substantial product revenues, we expect to finance our cash needs through a combination of equity offerings, debt financings, and license and collaboration agreements. We may be unable to raise capital when needed or on reasonable terms, if at all, which would force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts. We will need to generate significant revenues to achieve profitability, and we may never do so.

Concurrently with the closing of the Merger, we entered into a securities purchase agreement, or the 2023 Securities Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which we agreed to issue 149,330.115 shares of Series A Preferred Stock, in exchange for aggregate gross proceeds of $60.25 million, or the 2023 Private Placement. We granted customary registration rights to investors in connection with the 2023 Private Placement.

We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash as of December 31, 2025 will enable us to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next 12 months. We have based this estimate on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could use our capital resources sooner than we currently expect.

The consolidated financial information presented below includes the accounts of Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. and our wholly owned subsidiaries, Selecta (RUS) LLC, a Russian limited liability company, or Selecta (RUS), Selecta Biosciences Security Corporation, a Massachusetts securities corporation which was dissolved in December 2024, and Cartesian Bio, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which is a variable interest entity for which we are the primary beneficiary. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

Components of our Results of Operations

Collaboration and license revenue

To date, we have not generated any revenue from product sales. Our revenue consists primarily of collaboration and license revenue, which includes amounts recognized related to upfront and milestone payments for research and development funding under collaboration and license agreements. We expect that any revenue we generate will fluctuate from quarter to quarter

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because of the timing and amounts of fees, research and development reimbursements and other payments from collaborators. We do not expect to generate revenue from product sales for at least the next several years. If we or our collaborators fail to complete the development of our product candidates in a timely manner or fail to obtain regulatory approval as needed, our ability to generate future revenue will be harmed, and will affect the results of our operations and financial position. For further descriptions of the agreements underlying our collaboration and license revenue, see Notes 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” and 15, “Collaboration and License Agreements” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Grant revenue

We generate grant revenue, which consists of funding received to perform specific research and development services under grant arrangements.

Research and development expenses

Our research and development expenses consist of internal and external research and development costs, which primarily include fees paid to contract research organizations, internal manufacturing- and quality-related expenses, process development costs, internal research and development expenses, as well as fees paid to contract manufacturing organizations. These costs are primarily associated with compensation expenses for our research and development employees, capital equipment and supplies for our process development and manufacturing process, and other related expenses. Our internal research and development employees as well as our indirect costs are shared across multiple development programs and are not solely dedicated to individual programs.

We expense research and development costs as incurred. Conducting a significant amount of research and development is central to our business model. Product candidates in clinical development generally have higher development costs than those in earlier stages of development, primarily due to the size, duration and cost of clinical trials. The successful development of our clinical and preclinical product candidates is highly uncertain. Clinical development timelines, the probability of success and development costs can differ materially from our expectations. For example, if the FDA or another regulatory authority were to require us to conduct clinical trials beyond those which we currently expect will be required for the completion of clinical development of a product candidate, or if we experience significant delays in enrollment in any of our clinical trials, we could be required to expend significant additional financial resources and time to complete any clinical development.

General and administrative expenses

General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related benefits, including stock-based compensation, related to our executive, finance, business development and support functions. Other general and administrative expenses include facility-related costs not otherwise allocated to research and development expenses, travel expenses for our general and administrative personnel and professional fees for auditing, tax and corporate legal services, including intellectual property-related legal services.

Impairment of indefinite-lived intangible and long-lived assets

Impairment of indefinite-lived intangible and long-lived assets consists of impairment charges on our intangible and long-lived assets.

Interest income

Interest income consists primarily of income earned on our cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Gain on change in fair value of warrant liabilities

Common warrants classified as liabilities are remeasured quarterly at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a component of earnings.

Loss on change in fair value of contingent value right liability

The contingent value right liability is remeasured quarterly at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a component of earnings.

Loss on change in fair value of forward contract liabilities

The forward contract liabilities associated with the delayed issuance of the Series A Preferred Stock related to the Merger and 2023 Private Placement were remeasured upon settlement at fair value with the change in fair value recognized as a

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component of earnings. The Series A Preferred Stock forward contract liability was settled during the year ended December 31, 2024

Other (expense) income, net

Other (expense) income, net consists of non-operating income and non-operating expenses, including impairment charge on investment.

Income taxes

We provide deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between our financial statement carrying amounts and the tax basis of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates expected to be in effect in the years in which the differences are expected to reverse. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce the deferred tax assets to the amount that will more-likely-than-not be realized.

We determine whether it is more likely than not that a tax position will be sustained upon examination. If it is not more-likely-than-not that a position will be sustained, none of the benefit attributable to the position is recognized. The tax benefit to be recognized for any tax position that meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold is calculated as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely of being realized upon resolution of the contingency. We account for interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions as part of its provision for income taxes. To date,we have not incurred interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions.

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Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years Ended Decem

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