On Thursday, 02 October 2025, Allogene Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALLO) participated in Citi’s SMID Call Series 2025, presenting a robust strategic overview. The company highlighted promising developments in its pipeline, particularly the ALPHA-3 trial for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and the ALLO-329 autoimmune program, while also addressing enrollment challenges and financial sustainability.
Key Takeaways
Allogene’s ALPHA-3 trial targets a $5 billion global market for DLBCL.
The ALLO-329 program features innovative "Dagger" technology, aiming to treat autoimmune diseases without lymphodepletion.
The company anticipates critical data readouts in the first half of next year.
Allogene has secured a cash runway extending into 2027.
Enrollment strategies have improved, boosting confidence in meeting trial goals.
Financial Results
Allogene’s financial position is strong, with a cash runway extending into 2027.
The ALPHA-3 trial represents a significant market opportunity, estimated at $5 billion globally.
Operational Updates
ALPHA-3 Trial:
Design: Patients are randomized to observation or SEMA cell treatment post-MRD positivity after R-CHOP therapy.
Challenges: Initial difficulties in integrating MRD testing and coordinating care between specialists.
Mitigation: Improved patient identification and enrollment rates through best practices and site performance enhancements.
Futility Analysis: Expected in the first half of next year, targeting a 30% or greater MRD conversion difference.
Enrollment: Improved rates and confidence in meeting goals, with 220 patients to be randomized.
ALLO-329 Program:
Design: Dual CD19/CD70 targeting CAR T for autoimmune diseases.
Technology: "Dagger" aims to eliminate the need for lymphodepletion.
Phase 1 Study: Includes dose escalation in parallel arms, with and without low-dose cytotoxin lymphodepletion.
Flexibility: Basket design allows for enrollment across various autoimmune conditions.
Initial Readout: Anticipated in the first half of next year.
Future Outlook
ALPHA-3 Trial:
Futility Analysis: Results expected in the first half of next year.
Potential Impact: Aims to transform DLBCL management with MRD-driven treatment strategies.
ALLO-329 Program:
Expansion: Aggressive growth planned upon proof of concept, with potential beyond rheumatology.
ALLO-316 Program:
Partnerships: Actively seeking partnerships to advance treatment for solid tumors, particularly in kidney cancer.
Q&A Highlights
MRD Testing: Around 20-25% of patients remain MRD positive after R-CHOP, with MRD positivity predicting relapse.
SEMA Cell Efficacy: Phase one study showed a 100% complete remission rate in patients with lower tumor burden.
Commercialization: SEMA cell is designed for community oncology practices, with about 50% of sites being community-based.
Readers are encouraged to refer to the full transcript for a detailed understanding of Allogene’s strategic initiatives and future plans.
Israeli political leadership has reportedly ordered a significant reduction in operations to conquer Gaza City after United States President Donald Trump called on the country to cease its bombing campaign in the area to ensure the safety of the hostages, according to Army Radio and Kan.
The order calls on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to limit its ground troops to carrying out strictly defensive maneuvers and reduce its operations to "the minimum."
Earlier, Trump stated that he believed Hamas' response to his Gaza peace plan signified that the group was ready for a lasting peace and called on Israel to stop its strikes on the region.
A combination of ideology, social media, mental health disorders, and medication may be influencing recent trends in violence and radicalization among those who identify as transgender, according to experts.
“My general feeling is that we’re seeing more of it ... not for any one factor, but because of several factors all convening, and they’re all amplified by the political rhetoric,” said C. Alan Hopewell, a Fort Worth neuropsychologist.
When people struggling with their sexual identity are prescribed hormones to change their bodies, it impacts the way they think, he told The Epoch Times.
Hopewell said that combining hormones, medication, and intense online pressure can create a dangerous situation.
Since 2018, there have been at least six high-profile shootings at schools and businesses involving individuals who identified as transgender or were described as gender-confused.
Two were mass shootings, which are defined by the Crime Prevention Research Center as the killing of four or more people in a single incident that’s not gang-related or related to some other crime.
Last year, Anderson Lee Aldrich, a man who identifies as nonbinary, was sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences for the 2022 shooting of five people at an LGBT nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In 2023, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a woman who identified as a man, opened fire at the Covenant School in Nashville. Three 9-year-olds and three adults were gunned down before police shot and killed Hale.
Robert Westman, who changed his name to Robin, killed two children and wounded 21 others before killing himself at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis this August. The 23-year-old left a manifesto saying he “was tired of being trans” and scrawled anti-Christian messages and the words “kill Donald Trump” on weapons.
Likewise, members of the Zizians, described as a cult-like group largely made up of transgender individuals, have been mentioned in connection with the death of a woman during an attack on a California landlord in November 2022, the landlord’s subsequent killing, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple.
Most recently, the Zizians have been linked to a highway shootout in Vermont that left a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.
In Texas, Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill, and Bradford Morris, also known as Meagan Morris, were charged with the attempted murder of federal agents in connection with an ambush of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer at the Prairieland ICE detention facility in July.
Both suspects were members of an Antifa-affiliated group and both identified as transgender, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Court proceedings recently revealed that the man arrested for allegedly plotting to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022 identified as a woman.
Tyler Robinson, the alleged killer of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, was romantically involved with a transgender partner whose picture in a “furry” suit has been widely distributed online.
Friends reported that Robinson delved into a “dark” internet culture, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said on Sept. 14.
Messages on the cartridges in a rifle found by police in a wooded area after Kirk’s shooting gave insight into the shooter’s motive.
According to court documents, the phrase on one cartridge contained a reference to online furry and roleplay culture. Another read “Hey fascist! Catch!” and featured arrow symbols that may have referred to a sequence of controller moves that unleash a bomb in the video game “Helldivers 2.”
Robinson’s mother told investigators that over the past year or so, Robinson’s political beliefs had been leaning to the left, “becoming more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented,” according to the documents.
President Donald Trump said on Sept. 15, “It looks like he became radicalized on the internet.”
The FBI is investigating other possible accomplices in the assassination of the conservative influencer.
Ideology and Violence
When asked whether the FBI should be investigating transgender extremism, Trump told reporters on Sept. 21: “Something seems to be going on, but you can’t make that statement yet. We’re looking at it very closely.”
Groups such as Armed Queers of Salt Lake City, a militant anti-fascist group that wiped its social media presence after Kirk’s assassination, and Trans Army have come under public scrutiny.
Armed Queers spoke on “queer resistance” at the University of Utah in 2023. The group, which calls itself a revolutionary LGBT organization that defends “oppressed people,” is led by Ermiya Fanaeian, a transgender activist whose parents were Iranian immigrants. Fanaeian identifies as a “trans woman of color.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said in an X post that the socialist group is now under FBI investigation in connection with Kirk’s slaying. She noted alleged funding links between the group and the Chinese Communist Party.
The Trans Army, which offers “guides, toolkits, and counterinsurgency strategies to survive and fight back” denied the group was anything but peaceful, after journalist Andy Ngo posted on X that the organization was training for a “paramilitary insurrection against the U.S. government.”
The group said in an online statement, “The recent portrayal of the Trans Army initiative as a violent revolutionary force fundamentally misinterprets the organization’s intent, purpose, and advocacy.”
Trump designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist group on Sept. 22 and signed a presidential memorandum on Sept. 25 with the aim of dismantling left-wing terrorism networks in the United States.
The memorandum stated that recent political violence, including anti-ICE shootings and assassinations, did not have organic origins.
“Instead, it is a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society,” the president said.
The memorandum directed the National Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate, prosecute, and disrupt entities and people engaged in political violence and intimidation designed to suppress lawful political activity or obstruct the rule of law.
Dr. Lauren Schwartz, an Oklahoma psychiatrist, cautioned against the assumption that transgender individuals are inherently violent.
“I would be very cautious to link it directly to a violent act, of something like murdering someone or assassinating someone,” she told The Epoch Times.
Schwartz said individuals experiencing gender confusion are already vulnerable, and affirming their beliefs does not appear to improve their situation. Instead, she noted, their conditions may worsen.
“Steroids, and testosterone specifically ... I do think all of them put these kids and young adults in horribly compromised medical situations, even if it has nothing to do with harm to others,” she said.
While the number of mass killings involving transgender individuals is small, some experts say that the proportion appears statistically high.
“If you look at mass public shootings since 2018, what you find is about 5 percent of the mass public shooters were trans individuals, and given that their share of the population is about 0.7 percent, they’re obviously overrepresented,” John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told The Epoch Times.
Reaffirming that the sober revolution in Americais continuing full steam ahead into fall, a new Goldman report shows total alcoholic beverage sales fell 3.9% in the two weeks ending September 20, consistent with prior 4-week and 12-week declines.
There's a lot to unpack in Goldman's alcoholic beverage trends note, which cites NielsenIQ data through September 20. A team of analysts led by Bonnie Herzog wrote the report. Here's the breakdown:
Overall U.S. Market
Total alcoholic beverage sales fell -3.9% in the 2 weeks ending 9/20/25, consistent with prior 4- and 12-week declines.
Volume remained under pressure (-3.0%), while pricing slipped slightly (-0.7%).
Spirits and Cider were the only categories avoiding volume contraction.
Beer Category
Beer sales declined -3.8%, driven by a -5.2% volume drop, partially offset by +1.5% pricing.
Modelo: Sales down -3.5% on weaker volumes (-4.6%) but modest price growth (+1.2%).
Promotional spend moderated slightly to 18.5% of sales (from ~18.6–18.7%).
Herzog's team published an extensive chartbook visualizing the NielsenIQ data, underscoring a "sober revolution" that has gained momentum since the Covid lockdowns. Gen-Z sober behaviors are also changing the drinking landscape.
The charts line up with Gallup's latest survey showing (read report), for the first time in the poll's 90-year history, that a majority of Americans now view even moderate alcohol consumption as harmful to one's health.
Bud Light sales remain depressed after a transgender TikTok in early 2023 nuked the brand.
ESSA Pharma Inc. held a special meeting of security holders on October 3, 2025, to vote on its acquisition by XenoTherapeutics Inc., with the meeting concluding after requisite approvals were obtained for the arrangement and liquidation resolutions. The meeting was held online, and voting results will be posted on the company's SEDAR+ profile. The acquisition is proceeding based on a Business Combination Agreement, with the meeting's success paving the way for the transaction.
A massive fire erupted at a Chevronoil refinerythat's about three miles south of Los Angeles International Airport in El Segundo, California Thursday night just after 9:30 p.m. The blaze was so bright and powerful that it lit up the night sky, and flames were visible from miles away. The city of El Segundo closed down nearby roads, and urged nearby residents to stay indoors and shut their windows. That shelter in place order was lifted at around 1 a.m. Friday morning, and the blaze is now fully contained, but not extinguished.
The El Segundo refinery is Chevron's second-largest facility in the country, and it's one of the largest refineries in the West. It supplies a fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of all jet fuel consumed in Southern California, and according to Reuters, the fire erupted in the jet fuel production unit. Fortunately no injuries or deaths were reported as a result of the explosion and fire, and a Chevron spokesperson told Reuters that all workers at the refinery were accounted for.
The fire is contained, but not extinguished.
Reuters said, "The fire broke out in the refinery's Isomax 7 unit, which converts mid-distillate fuel oil into jet fuel, two sources said.
The reformer and the fluid catalytic cracker were shut, losing over 100,000-bpd gasoline output, a trader said citing Wood Mackenzie.
On the West Coast, traders said the impact to gasoline prices was muted as of Friday morning as market participants were still assessing the extent of damage to the refinery."
As of 8:00 a.m. Friday morning, the fire was still burning, but fire crews had the blaze completely contained, according to Alert South Bay. This refinery was opened over 100 years ago in 1911, and it has experienced several fires and other disasters over the past several years.
Videos published by the United States Chemical Safety Board (USCSB) document significant chemical disasters, and there's an entire playlist on YouTube dedicated to oil refinery safety. These videos explore the events leading up to, during, and after dangerous chemical disasters, as well as the known safety practices that should have been in place to prevent them. There are numerous disasters involving the fluid catalytic cracker unit which handles highly volatile and flammable hydrocarbons that can easily ignite when mixed with air. It will affect the price of gas in Southern California, but Reuters says California could draw fuel imports from refiners in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
