First-of-its-kind solid tumor cell therapy prepares to debut in China
Satri-cel targets biomarker common in gastric, pancreatic cancers
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A new CAR T-cell therapy designed to treat gastric (stomach) and pancreatic cancers will soon be available to patients in China, according to Jiahui International Cancer Center, one of the medical institutions offering the therapy.
The treatment, satricabtagene autoleucel (satri-cel) or CT041, will be the first in its class designed to target solid cancers expressing Claudin18.2, a protein commonly found in gastric and pancreatic tumors, Jiahui said.
The therapy “is expected to become available in China in the first half of 2026,” Jiahui Health said in a press release.
T-cells are immune cells that can act as the body’s assassins, killing rogue cells. With CAR T-cell therapy, a patient’s T-cells are collected and engineered with a molecular weapon called a CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) that directs the cells to attack a specific target expressed by cancer cells. The modified immune cells are then infused back into the patient’s body to launch their attack.
Several CAR T-cell therapies have been approved in the U.S. and other countries to treat blood cancers, but it’s been harder for scientists to create therapies in this class that can attack solid tumors. The issue is largely that in blood cancers, the cancerous cells are in the blood or bone marrow, where it’s relatively easy for the modified T-cells to pick them off one by one. In a solid tumor, however, immune cells need to battle their way through hostile terrain to reach the cancer cells.
Trial data show promise
Carsgen Therapeutics, the company developing satri-cel, submitted an application last year asking regulatory authorities in China to approve the therapy for certain patients with hard-to-treat gastric cancer. That application was based mainly on data from a Phase 2 study (NCT04581473) in which patients were randomly assigned to receive satri-cel or their doctor’s choice of standard-of-care treatments, with results indicating that satri-cel was better at delaying disease progression.
Carsgen is sponsoring a separate Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT05911217) testing satri-cel as an add-on to standard chemotherapy in people with pancreatic cancer who have already undergone surgery aimed at removing the tumor. All participants in the open-label trial will receive satri-cel, with the main goal of evaluating how long they remain free of disease after combination treatment. The study is recruiting participants at sites in China.
Carsgen is also running a Phase 1/2 study (NCT04404595) testing satri-cel in patients with pancreatic, gastric, or other digestive cancers in the U.S. and Canada. That trial is no longer recruiting participants.
